u.s. army sergeants major academy...

U.S. ARMY SERGEANTS MAJOR ACADEMY (FSC-TATS) L661 JUN 06 ETHICS/LEADER DECISION PROCESS PRERESIDENT TRAINING SUPPORT PACKAGE

THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY

1

PRERESIDENT TRAINING SUPPORT PACKAGE (TSP)

TSP Number / Title

L661 PHASE 1 / ETHICS/LEADER DECISION PROCESS

Effective Date 01 Jun 2006

Supersedes TSP(s) / Lesson(s)

L661, Ethics/Leader Decision Process, Jun 05.

TSP Users 521-SQIM (DL), First Sergeant Course

Proponent The proponent for this document is the Sergeants Major Academy.

Improvement Comments

Users are invited to send comments and suggested improvements on DA Form 2028, Recommended Changes to Publications and Blank Forms. Completed forms, or equivalent response, will be mailed or attached to electronic e-mail and transmitted to: COMDT USASMA ATTN ATSS DCF BLDG 11291 BIGGS FIELD FORT BLISS TX 79918-8002 Telephone (Comm) (915) 568-8875 Telephone (DSN) 978-8875 E-mail: [email protected]

Security Clearance / Access

Unclassified

Foreign Disclosure Restrictions

FD5. This product/publication has been reviewed by the product developers in coordination with the USASMA foreign disclosure authority. This product is releasable to students from all requesting foreign countries without restrictions.

2

PREFACE

Purpose This Training Support Package provides the student with a standardized lesson plan for presenting instruction for:

Task Number Task Title

158-100-1134 Resolve an Ethical Problem 158-100-1135 Apply Leadership Fundamentals to Create a Climate

that Fosters Ethical Behavior 158-100-1230 Apply the Ethical Decision-Making Process at Small Unit

Level 158-100-1331 Apply the Ethical Decision-Making Process as a

Commander, Leader, or Staff Member

3

This TSP Contains

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface............................................................................................................................................. 2 Lesson Section I Administrative Data ...................................................................................... 4

Section II Introduction.................................................................................................. 7 Terminal Learning Objective - Apply the ethical reasoning model. .................. 7

Section III Presentation ................................................................................................ 8 Enabling Learning Objective A - Analyze the ethical reasoning model............ 8 Enabling Learning Objective B - Determine the ethical responsibilities

of a leader. ..................................................................................................... 9 Enabling Learning Objective C - Assess ethical values and their

ramifications. ................................................................................................ 10 Enabling Learning Objective D - Identify the best leader decision

solution. ........................................................................................................ 11 Enabling Learning Objective E - Make ethical leader decisions. ................... 12

Section IV Summary................................................................................................... 13 Section V Student Evaluation.................................................................................... 14

Appendix A - Viewgraph Masters (N/A) A - ................................................................................ 1 Appendix B - Test(s) and Test Solution(s) (N/A) B -................................................................... 1 Appendix C - Practical Exercises and Solutions C - .................................................................... 1 Appendix D - Student Handouts D -............................................................................................. 1

4

ETHICS/LEADER DECISION PROCESS L661 PHASE 1 / Version 1

01 Jun 2005

SECTION I. ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

All Courses Including This Lesson

Course Number Version Course Title

521-SQIM (DL) 1 First Sergeant Course

Task(s) Taught(*) or Supported


158-100-1134 Resolve an Ethical Problem 158-100-1135 Apply Leadership Fundamentals to Create a Climate that

Fosters Ethical Behavior 158-100-1230 Apply the Ethical Decision-Making Process at Small Unit Level 158-100-1331 Apply the Ethical Decision-Making Process as a Commander,

Leader, or Staff Member

Reinforced Task(s)


None

Academic Hours

The academic hours required to teach this lesson are as follows:

Distance Learning Hours/Methods

40 mins / Practical Exercise (Performance) 1 hr 10 mins / Study Assignment Test 0 hrs Test Review 0 hrs

Total Hours: 2 hrs

Test Lesson Number

Hours Lesson No.

Testing (to include test review) 3 hrs E651 version 1

Prerequisite Lesson(s)

Lesson Number Lesson Title

None

Clearance Access

Security Level: Unclassified Requirements: There are no clearance or access requirements for the lesson.

Foreign Disclosure Restrictions

FD5. This product/publication has been reviewed by the product developers in coordination with the USASMA foreign disclosure authority. This product is releasable to students from all requesting foreign countries without restrictions.

References Number Title Date Additional Information

FM 22-100 ARMY LEADERSHIP 31 Aug 1999 SH-2

5

Student Study Assignments

• Study SH-1 and FM 22-100 (SH-2).

Instructor Requirements

None

Additional Support

Name Stu Ratio

Qty Man Hours

Personnel Requirements MSG, FSC graduate, ITC, and SGITC graduate

(Enlisted) 1:14 1 2 hrs

Equipment Required

Id Name

Stu Ratio

Instr Ratio

Spt Qty Exp

for Instruction None

* Before Id indicates a TADSS

Materials Required

Instructor Materials: None

Student Materials: • TSP. • Pen or pencil and writing paper.

Classroom, Training Area, and Range Requirements

None

Ammunition Requirements

Id Name Exp Stu Ratio

Instr Ratio

Spt Qty

None

Instructional Guidance

None

6

Proponent Lesson Plan Approvals

Name McGough, Elliott T.

Rank GS09

Position Training Specialist

Date

Smith, Sandra

SGM

Chief Instructor, FSC

Graham, Kevin L.

SGM

Chief, FSC

Collins, Curtis R.

SGM

Chief, SMC

Bennett-Green, Agnes D.

SGM

Chief, CMDD

7

SECTION II. INTRODUCTION

Method of Instruction: Study Assignment Technique of Delivery: Individualized, self-paced Instruction Instructor to Student Ratio is: 1:14 Time of Instruction: 5 mins Media: None

Motivator As a leader, you must be a person of strong and honorable character committed to the professional Army ethic. This lesson will provide you a discussion of the fundamentals of what a leader must be to have the moral strength and courage to make hard decisions. Those who hold responsibility for others have an obligation to help those for whom they hold responsibility. In addition, the golden rule implies: If we were in serious difficulty wherein we could not help ourselves, we would want those who could help us to do so, even if they held no responsibility for us. Therefore, we should help others help themselves although we hold no responsibility for them.

Terminal Learning Objective

At the completion of this lesson, you [the student] will:

Action: Apply the ethical reasoning model.

Conditions: As a first sergeant in a self-study environment given SH-1 and extracted material from FM 22-100 (SH-2).

Standards: Applied the ethical reasoning model IAW SH-1 and FM 22-100 (SH-2).

Safety Requirements

None

Risk Assessment Level

Low

Environmental Considerations

NOTE: It is the responsibility of all Soldiers and DA civilians to protect the environment from damage.

None

Evaluation At the end of your Phase I training and before entering Phase II, you will take an on-line, multiple-choice examination. It will test your comprehension of the learning objectives from this and other lessons in Phase I. You must correctly answer 70 percent or more of the questions on the examination to receive a GO. Failure to achieve a GO on the examination will result in a retest. Failure on the retest could result in your dismissal from the course.

Instructional Lead-In

You may sometimes find yourself in complex situations where the alternative is not clear. True ethical dilemmas are where two or more deeply held values systems collide. In such situations, you need a reasoning process to assist you in deciding what course of action results in the greater moral good for all parties involved. We will explain and illustrate ethical decision-making dilemmas.

8

SECTION III. PRESENTATION

A. ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVE

ACTION: Analyze the ethical reasoning model.

CONDITIONS: As a first sergeant in a self-study environment given extracted material from FM 22-100 (SH-2).

STANDARDS: Analyzed the ethical reasoning model IAW FM 22-100 (SH-2).

1. Learning Step / Activity 1. Ethical Reasoning Model

Method of Instruction: Study Assignment Technique of Delivery: Individualized, self-paced Instruction Instructor to Student Ratio: 1:14 Time of Instruction: 10 mins Media: None

To complete this learning step activity, you are to--

• Read the above ELO. • Read FM 22-100 (SH-2), pp SH-2-2 thru SH-2-6. • Study FM 22-100 (SH-2), pp SH-2-7 thru SH-2-14.

2. Learning Step / Activity 2. Ethical Reasoning Model

Method of Instruction: Practical Exercise (Performance) Technique of Delivery: Individualized, self-paced Instruction Instructor to Student Ratio: 1:1 Time of Instruction: 10 mins Media: None

Try to complete the questions in the practical exercise without referring to the student handout. Write your answers in the spaces provided.

• This is a self-graded exercise. • It should take you approximately 10 minutes to complete the questions. • Complete questions 1 thru 3 on p C-2. • Compare your responses with the solutions on p C-3. • For any incorrect responses, review the appropriate reference/lesson material.

CHECK ON LEARNING: The practical exercise (questions 1 thru 3) serves as a check on learning for ELO A.

9

B. ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVE

ACTION: Determine the ethical responsibilities of a leader.


STANDARDS: Determined the ethical responsibilities of a leader IAW FM 22-100 (SH-2).

1. Learning Step / Activity 1. Ethical Responsibilities of a Leader



• Read the above ELO. • Review FM 22-100 (SH-2), pp SH-2-7 thru SH-2-14. • Study FM 22-100 (SH-2), pp SH-2-15 thru SH-2-20.

2. Learning Step / Activity 2. Ethical Responsibilities of a Leader



• This is a self-graded exercise. • It should take you approximately 5 minutes to complete the questions. • Complete questions 4 thru 6 on p C-2. • Compare your responses with the solutions on p C-3. • For any incorrect responses, review the appropriate reference/lesson material.

CHECK ON LEARNING: The practical exercise (questions 4 thru 6) serves as a check on learning for ELO B.

10

C. ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVE

ACTION: Assess ethical values and their ramifications.


STANDARDS: Assessed ethical values and their ramifications IAW FM 22-100 (SH-2).

1. Learning Step / Activity 1. Ethical Values and Their Ramifications



• Read the above ELO. • Study FM 22-100 (SH-2), pp SH-2-21 thru SH-2-30.

2. Learning Step / Activity 2. Ethical Values and Their Ramifications



• This is a self-graded exercise. • It should take you approximately 5 minutes to complete the questions. • Complete questions 7 and 8 on p C-2. • Compare your responses with the solutions on pp C-3 and C-4. • For any incorrect responses, review the appropriate reference/lesson material.

CHECK ON LEARNING: The practical exercise (questions 7 and 8) serves as a check on learning for ELO C.

11

D. ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVE

ACTION: Identify the best leader decision solution.


STANDARDS: Identified the best leader decision solution IAW FM 22-100 (SH-2).

1. Learning Step / Activity 1. Ethical and Leader Decision



• Read the above ELO. • Study FM 22-100 (SH-2), pp SH-2-31 thru SH-2-35.

2. Learning Step / Activity 2. Ethical and Leader Decision



• This is a self-graded exercise. • It should take you approximately 5 minutes to complete the questions. • Complete questions 9 and 10 on p C-2. • Compare your responses with the solutions on p C-4. • For any incorrect responses, review the appropriate reference/lesson material.

CHECK ON LEARNING: The practical exercise (questions 9 and 10) serves as the check on learning for ELO D.

12

E. ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVE

ACTION: Make ethical leader decisions.

CONDITIONS: As a first sergeant in a self-study environment given SH-1 and extracted material from FM 22-100 (SH-2).

STANDARDS: Made ethical leader decisions IAW SH-1 and FM 22-100 (SH-2).

1. Learning Step / Activity 1. Ethical or Leader Decision



• Read the above ELO. • Study SH-1, pp SH-1-2 thru SH-1-6.

2. Learning Step / Activity 2. Ethical or Leader Decision


• It should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete a written conclusion

based on SH-1 case studies. • Use the ethical reasoning process or the leader decision process to solve the

case studies. • Bring your written conclusion with you when you attend Phase 2, you will

participate in group activities to complete this ELO.

CHECK ON LEARNING: The practical exercise serves as a check on learning for this ELO.

13

SECTION IV. SUMMARY

Method of Instruction: Study Assignment Technique of Delivery: Individualized, self-paced Instruction Instructor to Student Ratio is: 1:14 Time of Instruction: 5 mins Media: Individualized, self-paced Instruction

Check on Learning

The practical exercises in Appendix C serve as the check on learning for this lesson.

Review / Summarize Lesson

None

14

SECTION V. STUDENT EVALUATION

Testing Requirements

At the end of your Phase I training and before entering Phase II, you will take an on-line, multiple-choice examination. It will test your comprehension of the learning objectives from this and other lessons in Phase I. You must correctly answer 70 percent or more of the questions on the examination to receive a GO. Failure to achieve a GO on the examination will result in a retest. Failure on the retest could result in your dismissal from the course.

Feedback Requirements

NOTE: Feedback is essential to effective learning. Please complete the student questionnaire and mail to USASMA.

15

STUDENT QUESTIONAIRE L661

Complete the following actions:

• Enter your name, your rank, and the date you complete this questionnaire.

Name: Rank: Date:

• Answer items 1 through 6 below. • Fold the questionnaire, so the address for USASMA is visible. • Print your return address, add postage, and mail.

NOTE: Your response to this questionnaire will assist the Academy in refining and improving this course. When completing the questionnaire, answer each question frankly. Your assistance helps build and maintain the best curriculum possible.

Item 1: Do you feel you have met the learning objectives of this lesson? Item 2: Was the material covered in this lesson new to you? Item 3: Which parts of this lesson were most helpful to you in learning the objectives? Item 4: How could we improve the format of this lesson? Item 5: How could we improve the content of this lesson? Item 6: Do you have additional questions or comments? If you do, please list them here. You may add additional pages if necessary

CMDT USASMA ATTN ATSS DCF FSC TATS BLDG 11291 BIGGS FLD FT BLISS TX 79918-8002

-------------------------------------------------------------------(Fold)-----------------------------------------------------------------

A-1

Appendix A - Viewgraph Masters (N/A)

B-1

Appendix B - Test(s) and Test Solution(s) (N/A)

C-1

Appendix C

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 1

Title ETHICAL REASONING PROCESS

Lesson Number / Title

L661 PHASE 1 version 1 / ETHICS/LEADER DECISION PROCESS

Introduction The intent of this practical exercise is to acquaint you with the ethical and leader decision process as outlined in FM 22-100.

Motivator None






Safety Requirements

None

Risk Assessment

Low


None

Evaluation Check your responses with the solutions on pp C-3 and C-4. If your responses do not match the responses in the solution, you should study the appropriate references as indicated.


None

Resource Requirements

Instructor Materials: None Student Materials: • TSP. • Pen or pencil and writing paper.

Special Instructions

None

C-2

Procedures 1. List two of the four steps in the ethical reasoning process?

2. Describe ethical reasoning as outlined in FM 22-100?

3. What is the hardest step in solving any problem?

4. How does critical reasoning help our thinking process?

5. To fulfill our lawful duty as Soldiers and serve honorably, we must use what type of reasoning?

6. When a leader makes a snap decision based on experience and his intuition about what feels right, what guides these decisions?

7. What are the three stages of building teams?

8. List five things that good teams do well.

9. What are the four phases of a leader plan of action?

10. Following the completion of Step 4 of the leader action plan (execute leader plan), what must the leader do to improve/maintain the organization?


None

C-3

SOLUTION TO PRACTICAL EXERCISE 1

1. List two of the four steps in the ethical reasoning process?

Step 1. Define the problem. Step 2. Know the relevant rules. Step 3. Develop and evaluate courses of action. Step 4. Choose the course of action which best represents Army values.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-14, para 4-30

2. Describe ethical reasoning as outlined in FM 22-100?

Ethical reasoning is an art, not a science, and sometimes the best answer is going to be hard to determine.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-14, para 4-33

3. What is the hardest step in solving any problem?

Defining the problem is the hardest step in solving a problem.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-14, para 4-34

4. How does critical reasoning help our thinking process?

Understanding situations, finding causes, arriving at justifiable conclusions, making good judgments and learning from the experiences--in short, solving problems.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-12, para 4-19

5. To fulfill our lawful duty as Soldiers and serve honorably, we must use what type of reasoning?

Ethical reasoning.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-13, para 4-24

6. When a leader makes a snap decision based on experience and his intuition about what feels right, what guides these decisions?

Army values, the institutional culture, and the organizational climate guide these kinds of decisions.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-13, para 4-25

7. What are the three stages of building teams?

Stage 1. Formation stage Stage 2. Enrichment stage Stage 3. Sustainment stage

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-23, para 5-111

C-4

8. List five things that good teams do well.

• Work together to accomplish the mission. • Execute tasks thoroughly and quickly. • Meet or exceed the standard. • Thrive on demanding challenges. • Learn from their experiences and are proud of their accomplishments.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-22, para 5-106

9. What are the four phases of a leader plan of action?

Step 1. Assess Step 2. Analyze Step 3. Develop Plan of Action Step 4. Execute Plan of Action

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-31, Fig D-1

10. Following the completion of Step 4 of the leader action plan (execute leader plan), what must the leader do to improve/maintain the organization?

Periodically reassess the unit.

Ref: FM 22-100 (SH-2), p SH-2-31, para D-5

C-5

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 2

Title ETHICAL REASONING AND LEADER DECISION PROCESS

Lesson Number / Title

L661 PHASE 1 version 1 / ETHICS/LEADER DECISION PROCESS

Introduction None

Motivator None






Safety Requirements

None

Risk Assessment

Low


None

Evaluation Develop a written plan to resolve each case study, using either the ethical reasoning process or the leader decision process. You will brief your written plan during Phase II.


None

Resource Requirements

Instructor Materials: None Student Materials: • TSP.

• Pen or pencil and writing paper.

Special Instructions

Review and analyze the three case studies in SH-1. Develop a written plan to resolve each case study, using either the ethical reasoning process or the leader decision process.

C-6

Procedures Part 1. Apply the Ethical Reasoning Process and/or the Leader Decision Process (FM 22-100, Chapter 4 and Appendix D (SH-2)) to each case study:

a. Define the problem (explain, in detail, the ethical dilemma).

b. State the relevant rules.

c. Develop a course of action (lay out possible courses of action).

d. Choose a course of action that best represents Army values.

Part 2. List what Army values you are applying from 1d above.

Part 3. Be ready to brief your solutions during Phase 2.


None

D-1

Appendix D

HANDOUTS FOR LESSON 1: L661 1 version 1

This appendix contains the items listed in this table--

Title/Synopsis Pages SH-1, Case Studies SH-1-1 thru SH-1-6

SH-2, Extracted Material from FM 22-100 SH-2-1 thru SH-2-35

SH-1-1

Student Handout 1 Case Studies

This student handout contains five pages of material for use with Practical

Exercise 2.

SH-1-2

CASE STUDY ONE

The Case of Good Causes

SFC Malone works with homeless children in the Pittsburgh area, devoting extensive off-duty time to alleviating a developing social problem. Authorities in the city have found that homeless adolescents commit a significant percentage of city crimes. SFC Malone's program has made a difference, and as his commander, you have supported his efforts.

Now he has come to you with a request that you approve a function at the Armory--a meeting SFC Malone is calling the UN of Pittsburgh. He has finally persuaded the leaders of three rival teenage gangs to sit down together at a social function, but he must get you to sign a form declaring the activity is an official military function. Without the signed form, the civilian building supervisor will not allow the activity to proceed.

Your superior is in Europe on vacation and unavailable for advice or approval. You reflect that he has been cracking down on the misuse of government facilities, especially misuses carrying a price tag for the Army. SFC Malone's efforts are strictly private and off-duty.

SFC Malone has emphasized that the UN meeting will probably make or break his efforts to straighten out kids in his program. The Armory, he says, is the only neutral ground he can use. He asks you with great intensity, "Will you sign off on this for me, 1SG, for the kids?"

SH-1-3

CASE STUDY TWO

The Case of the Two Soldiers

Heavy enemy pressure has resulted in orders for all units to move a mile to the rear to more defensible positions. 1SG Taggart’s company has packed up and is ready to move. Taggart has a special mission in the adjustment. He has orders to move directly to an ambush position in a defile that leads to a corps chemical unit providing early warning of the use of chemical munitions by the enemy forces. His ambush is critical because only he can reach the position in the thirty minutes he has been given--the thirty minutes that will allow him to ambush a small, fast-moving enemy column headed directly for the defile through the line of hills that constitutes the new line of defense. His ambush will be part of his mission to protect the chemical unit.

As 1SG Taggart prepares to move out, one of his platoon sergeants tells him that one of two reconnaissance patrols being pulled back to the platoon has just returned. The three-man patrol reports that they observed members of the other recon patrol, two Soldiers, being captured by a squad of enemy soldiers. They followed the enemy squad on a trail into some dense vegetation and captured the man in the rear of the enemy column at a sharp bend in the trail. That prisoner revealed that the squad is on its way to a POW collection point, but the POW will not reveal its location.

The platoon sergeant says, "1SG, we have got to get those guys back! You know what the enemy has been doing to prisoners! If they are lucky, they will just be shot! Give me five minutes with the guy the patrol brought back and I will have the exact location of their POW collection point. If it’s close, we can snatch them back in no time."

A quick check of the distance to the ambush site convinces Taggart that he must leave within 10 minutes to fulfill his protection mission. It is now 0900 and he has orders to establish the ambush not later 0945. If the platoon sergeant does learn enough to mount a rescue mission, Taggart will probably have to split personnel to try to accomplish both purposes. As he ponders, his RTO tells him that the company commander has passed the word to move quickly. Division is calling in a series of air strikes on the positions now being vacated, hoping to catch the enemy units in exposed positions moving forward.

Should 1SG Taggart allow the platoon sergeant to question the prisoner? Should he try to mount a rescue operation?

SH-1-4

CASE STUDY THREE

The Case of the Different Culture

1. Overall Situation It is the year 200X. You are a first sergeant in the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry).

The division has deployed to the fledging Republic of Paldora in South America. Its mission is to conduct nation building operations and to assist the Paldorans in the maintenance and development of their democratic institutions. Paldora is a new country founded in 200Y after economic and political turmoil resulted in the disintegration of Brazil. The country is approximately the size of America’s Northeast. Although large in area, it has a small population. Much of the land is part of the Amazon rain forest. Economically the nation is struggling. The Brazilian Civil War destroyed most businesses and industry.

2. Extract - Your mission briefing from COL Highpower.

"This is a nation building mission. We are here to assist the Paldorans in building and modernizing their country. In order to succeed, we have to increase the standard of living for the common Paldoran. This means everything from building schools to giving inoculations. Work through the local government officials in your area. We need to show that they are in charge and that we are working with them. I don’t want to give the people the impression that we are down here for any other reason than to help their own government.

One of the things you have to be particularly aware of is the fact that the Paldorans are a very mixed bunch. Parts of the population consist of well-to-do middle class that would fit into our culture with ease. Other parts of the country are less advanced. The highlands have a large population of people we might call superstitious peasants. The population of the rain forest consists of tribes who are not all that far removed from the primitive hunter-gatherer society. Whatever your sector is, it is important for you to get a feel for the customs and beliefs of the locals. You have to be the expert in your sector. Because of the size of the area and the differences in people and culture, you will have to use your best judgment in making decisions that will affect the overall success of the mission. I have the utmost confidence in your abilities."

3. BDE S-2 Intelligence Report Your company’s assignment is to one of the rain forest sectors. The tribe that populates

your area of operations is the Tiní. We have limited intelligence on them.

History: There is little information known about the Tiní prior to 1998. It is only in the past 10 years that they have had contact with the outside world. Prior to that they lived deep in the rain forest. In 1998, Brazil launched massive lumber projects in the heart of the Tiní lands. Because of the lumber operations, we discovered the Tiní people.

General Information: The tribe consists of about 40,000 (est.) men, women, and children. For the most part they are a peaceful society that has adapted quickly to the outside world. Although generally peaceful, they have a reputation for being implacable enemies when wronged. Neighboring tribes call their warriors the "ghosts that seek vengeance" because of their ability to move through the forest unnoticed.

SH-1-5

Culture - The Tiní are a deeply religious people who place great value on ritual and tradition. Both their religion and society place an emphasis on promoting the welfare of the society over the individual. Many consider Tiní society a theocracy because the tribal chiefs function as civil, military, and spiritual leaders. Their power derives from their special relationship with the Gods.

4. Tiní Religious Beliefs a. The world of the Tiní is in perpetual danger of destruction from the forces of Evil, led by

the serpent god, Balzaar.

b. The constant efforts and sacrifices of Leal (the great, good god) prevents final destruction of the world.

c. Only those who follow in Leal’s footsteps and sacrifice for the common good of society will receive Leal’s reward. The reward will be reincarnation in a higher life form or eternal life with Leal in "Parva"--the Tiní version of paradise.

5. The First Story of Leal, Tiní Legend (Balzaar is attempting to destroy the world by drying up the earth's water. Having just finished his second battle against Balzaar, Leal has found a place to rest.)

"As the great god Leal lay hurt and bleeding from his battle with Balzaar, an old woman appeared with cool water and herbs to treat his wounds. As she finished, the Tochis (demon warriors) of Balzaar appeared and attacked. Although Leal ultimately defeated the demons, one of the Tochis chopped off the leg of the old woman. After the fight, Leal cared for the woman. As he was doing this, the serpent god himself appeared and attacked Leal. Weakened by his wounds, the great god was unable to defend himself and suffered wound after wound from Balzaar’s fierce fangs and mighty opé (war axe). In one terrific blow, the serpent king severed Leal’s sword hand, leaving him defenseless. As the Evil one coiled for the strike that would destroy Leal, a young girl appeared. Without hesitation, she threw herself at Balzaar in an attempt to protect Leal. Infuriated, Balzaar sank his fangs into her throat and then cut her apart with his opé. While she distracted the serpent king, Leal regained his sword and with a mighty swing cut off one of Balzaar’s heads. Howling with rage and pain, the serpent king fled.

Leal then went to the hurt old woman and the body of the young girl. He touched some of his blood to the woman’s leg and healed it, saying, "In helping me you have helped all of mankind. You shall be reborn a great and wise queen." He then approached the young girl’s body and said, "You who have sacrificed all for mankind shall receive eternal bliss." He then raised her spirit up to paradise.

6. Situation to Date After three weeks in sector you are making excellent progress. Your soldiers have already

built a small clinic that is providing needed medical aid. You also have begun building a new school and a levee to protect crops from flood damage.

Relations with the Tiní are good. They are a friendly, generous people who appreciate your efforts to help them. They have been assisting your Soldiers on all the projects. Many of the tribes have unofficially adopted members of your company and provide them with food.

As your first month draws to a close you receive an invitation to the "Moon Ceremony." This ceremony signifies the triumph of Leal over Balzaar in their continual struggle. You and many of your Soldiers attend. Tribesmen pour into the area for the semi-annual ceremony. After a dinner feast, the actual ceremony occurs. Several warriors lead an elderly woman and young girl to an open area. Amid great ceremony, they reenact the fight of Leal and Balzaar. As the ceremony concludes two of the tribal leaders suddenly step out carrying opés. With practiced

SH-1-6

blows they kill and dismember the woman and child. Their act brings forth a wave of cheering and chanting from the assembled tribesmen.

Stunned by the sudden change of events, you ask the tribe’s chief for an explanation. He tells you, "These two have gone to help Leal fight Balzaar. By their willing sacrifice they ensure the continuation of the circle of life. Great honor and rewards shall they receive in their next life with Leal in eternal paradise."

As you leave the ceremony, you can see the incidents have horrified and angered your Soldiers. One of your Soldiers gets into a scuffle with the executioners. Only quick intervention by your platoon sergeant prevents it from getting out of hand.

During the night, your platoon sergeant comes to see you and tells you the Soldiers are in an ugly mood. The ceremony horrified them. The elderly woman was a friend of your Soldiers. Rumors are flying that the "Moon Ceremony" runs for three days, repeating the ritual of sacrifice each day; so more people will die tomorrow. Your Soldiers are talking about what they can do to stop it.

The next morning you confirm that the ceremony does run for three days. More executions are scheduled. On your rounds, you feel the tension in the air. Several times you have heard your men talking. They are saying things like "this is plain wrong," and "we have to stop it." Concerned, you radio higher for guidance, but none comes. You are the leader on the ground; make a decision.

7. Task Force Rules of Engagement (ROE) 1. American troops have the right of self-defense at all times. If Soldiers lives are in danger, Soldiers may use deadly force. 2. The command has authorized the use of deadly force to protect the lives of Paldoran Nationals. 3. At their discretion, company commanders can authorize the use of riot control agents and weapons. 4. The use of force should be a last resort. When faced with hostile situations, Soldiers and units should first issue verbal warnings, then use warning shots and physical force prior to using deadly force.

SH-2-1

Student Handout 2 Extracted Material from FM 22-100

This student handout contains 34 pages of extracted material from the

following publication. FM 22-100, Army Leadership, 31 August 1999 Title Page Chapter 2 The Leader and Leadership SH-2-2 Character: What a Leader Must BE SH-2-3

Chapter 4 Direct Leadership Skills SH-2-8

Chapter 5 Mentoring and Developing Tomorrow’s Army SH-2-21 Appendix D A Leader Plan of Action and the ECAS SH-2-31 Disclaimer: The training developer downloaded the material from the General Dennis J. Reimer Army Digital Training Library homepage. The text may contain passive voice, misspellings, grammatical errors, etc., and may not be in compliance with the Army Writing Style Program.

SH-2-2

CHAPTER 2

The Leader and Leadership: What the Leader Must Be, Know, and Do

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Oath of Enlistment

I [full name], having been appointed a [rank] in the United States Army, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Oath of office taken by commissioned officers and DA civilians

2-1. Beneath the Army leadership framework shown in Figure 1-1, 30 words spell out your job as a leader: Leaders of character and competence act to achieve excellence by developing a force that can fight and win the nation’s wars and serve the common defense of the United States. There’s a lot in that sentence. This chapter looks at it in detail. 2-2. Army leadership doctrine addresses what makes leaders of character and competence and what makes leadership. Figure 2-1 highlights these values and attributes. Remember from Chapter 1 that character describes what leaders must BE; competence refers to what leaders must KNOW; and action is what leaders must DO. Although this chapter discusses these concepts one at a time, they don’t stand alone; they are closely connected and together make up who you seek to be (a leader of character and competence) and what you need to do (leader-ship).

CHARACTER: WHAT A LEADER MUST BE ............................................2-2 Army Values........................................2-2 Leader Attributes..............................2-10 Focus on Character…......................2-19 COMPETENCE: WHAT A LEADER MUST KNOW.....................................2-24 LEADERSHIP: WHAT A LEADER MUST DO...........................2-26 Influencing........................................2-27 Operating..........................................2-27 Improving..........................................2-28 SUMMARY............................................2-28

SH-2-3

SECTION I

CHARACTER: WHAT A LEADER MUST BE

Everywhere you look—on the fields of athletic competition, in combat training, operations, and in civilian communities—soldiers are doing what is right.

Former Sergeant Major of the Army Julius W. Gates

2-3. Character—who you are—contributes significantly to how you act. Character helps you know what’s right and do what’s right, all the time and at whatever the cost. Character is made up of two interacting parts: values and attributes. Stephen Ambrose, speaking about the Civil War, says that "at the pivotal point in

the war it was always the character of individuals that made the difference." Army leaders must be those critical individuals of character themselves and in turn develop character in those they lead. (Appendix E discusses character development.)

ARMY VALUES

Figure 2-1. Army Values

2-4. Your attitudes about the worth of people, concepts, and other things describe your values. Everything begins there. Your subordinates enter the Army with their own values, developed in childhood and nurtured through experience. All people are all shaped by what they’ve seen, what they’ve learned, and whom they’ve met.

But when soldiers and DA civilians take the oath, they enter an institution guided by Army values. These are more than a system of rules. They’re not just a code tucked away in a drawer or a list in a dusty book. These values tell you what you need to be, every day, in every action you take. Army values form the very identity of the Army, the solid rock upon which everything else stands, especially in combat. They are the glue that binds together the members of a noble profession. As a result, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Army values are nonnegotiable: they apply to everyone and in every situation throughout the Army.

2-5. Army values remind us and tell the rest of the world—the civilian government we serve, the nation we protect, even our enemies—who we are and what we stand for. The trust soldiers and DA civilians have for each other and the trust the American people have in us depends on how well we live up to Army values. They are the fundamental building blocks that enable us to discern right from wrong in any situation. Army values are consistent; they support one another. You can’t follow one value and ignore another.

2-6. Here are the Army values that guide you, the leader, and the rest of the Army. They form the acronym LDRSHIP:

SH-2-4

Loyalty Duty Respect Selfless Service Honor Integrity Personal Courage 2-7. The following discussions can help you understand Army values, but understanding is only the first step. As a leader, you must not only understand them; you must believe in them, model them in your own actions, and teach others to accept and live by them.

LOYALTY

Bear true faith and allegiance to the US Constitution, the Army, your unit, and other soldiers.

Loyalty is the big thing, the greatest battle asset of all. But no man ever wins the loyalty of troops by preaching loyalty. It is given to him as he proves his possession of the other virtues.

Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall Men Against Fire

2-8. Since before the founding of the republic, the Army has respected its subordination to its civilian political leaders. This subordination is fundamental to preserving the liberty of all Americans. You began your Army career by swearing allegiance to the Constitution, the basis of our government and laws. If you’ve never

read it or if it has been a while, the Constitution is in Appendix F. Pay particular attention to Article I, Section 8, which outlines congressional responsibilities regarding the armed forces, and Article II, Section 2, which designates the president as commander in chief. Beyond your allegiance to the Constitution, you have an obligation to be faithful to the Army—the institution and its people—and to your unit or organization. Few examples illustrate loyalty to country and institution as well as the example of GEN George Washington in 1782.

2-9. GEN Washington’s example shows how the obligation to subordinates and peers fits in the context of loyalty to the chain of command and the institution at large. As commander of the Continental Army, GEN Washington was obligated to see that his soldiers were taken care of. However, he also was obligated to ensure that the new nation remained secure and that the Continental Army remained able to fight if necessary. If the Continental Army had marched on the seat of government, it may well have destroyed the nation by undermining the law that held it together. It also would have destroyed the Army as an institution by destroying the basis for the authority under which it served. GEN Washington realized these things and acted based on his knowledge. Had he done nothing else, this single act would have been enough to establish GEN George Washington as the father of his country.

GEN Washington at Newburgh Following its victory at Yorktown in 1781, the Continental Army set up camp at Newburgh, New York,

to wait for peace with Great Britain. The central government formed under the Articles of Confederation proved weak and unwilling to supply the Army properly or even pay the soldiers who had won the war for independence. After months of waiting many officers, angry and impatient, suggested that the Army march on the seat of government in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and force Congress to meet the Army’s demands. One colonel even suggested that GEN Washington become King George I.

Upon hearing this, GEN Washington assembled his officers and publicly and emphatically rejected the suggestion. He believed that seizing power by force would have destroyed everything for which the Revolutionary War had been fought. By this action, GEN Washington firmly established an enduring precedent: America’s armed forces are subordinate to civilian authority and serve the democratic principles that are now enshrined in the Constitution. GEN Washington’s action demonstrated the loyalty to country that the Army must maintain in order to protect the freedom enjoyed by all Americans.

SH-2-5

support marks Army culture regardless of who you are, where you are, or what you are doing.

2-90. That tight fabric of loyalty to one another and to collective victory reflects perhaps the noblest aspect of our American warrior ethos: the military’s subordinate relationship to civilian authority. That subordination began in 1775, was reconfirmed at Newburgh, New York, in 1782, and continues to this day. It’s established in the Constitution and makes possible the freedom all Americans enjoy. The Army sets out to achieve national objectives, not its own, for selfless service is an institutional as well as an individual value. And in the end, the Army returns its people back to the nation. America’s sons and daughters return with their experience as part of a winning team and share that spirit as citizens. The traditions and values of the service derive from a commitment to excellent performance and operational success. They also point to the Army’s unwavering commitment to the society we serve. Those characteristics serve America and its citizens—both in and out of uniform—well.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 2-91. People come to the Army with a character formed by their background, religious or philosophical beliefs, education, and experience. Your job as an Army leader would be a great deal easier if you could check the values of a new DA civilian or soldier the way medics check

teeth or run a blood test. You could figure out what values were missing by a quick glance at Figure 1-1 and administer the right combination, maybe with an injection or magic pill. 2-92. But character development is a complex, lifelong process. No scientist can point to a per-son and say, “This is when it all happens.” However, there are a few things you can count on. You build character in subordinates by creating organizations in which Army values are not just words in a book but precepts for what their members do. You help build subordinates’ character by acting the way you want them to act. You teach by example, and coach along the way. (Appendix E contains additional information on character development.) When you hold yourself and your subordinates to the highest standards, you reinforce the values those standards embody. They spread throughout the team, unit, or organization—throughout the Army—like the waves from a pebble dropped into a pond.

CHARACTER AND ETHICS 2-93. When you talk about character, you help your people answer the question, What kind of person should I be? You must not only embrace Army values and leader attributes but also use them to think, reason, and—after reflection—act. Acting in a situation that tests your character requires moral courage. Consider this example.

The Qualification Report

A battalion in a newly activated division had just spent a great deal of time and effort on weapons qualification. When the companies reported results, the battalion commander could not understand why B and C Companies had reported all machine gunners fully qualified while A Company had not. The A Company Commander said that he could not report his gunners qualified because they had only fired on the 10-meter range and the manual for qualification clearly stated that the gunners had to fire on the transition range as well. The battalion commander responded that since the transition range was not built yet, the gunners should be reported as qualified: “They fired on the only range we have. And besides, that’s how we did it at Fort Braxton.”

Some of the A Company NCOs, who had also been at Fort Braxton, tried to tell their company commander the same thing. But the captain insisted the A Company gunners were not fully qualified, and that’s how the report went to the brigade commander.

The brigade commander asked for an explanation of the qualification scores. After hearing the A Company Commander’s story, he agreed that the brigade would be doing itself no favors by reporting partially qualified gunners as fully qualified. The incident also sent a message to division: get that transition range built.

The A Company Commander’s choice was not between loyalty to his battalion commander and honesty; doing the right thing here meant being loyal and honest. And the company commander had the moral courage to be both honest and loyal—loyal to the Army, loyal to his unit, and loyal to his soldiers.

SH-2-6

2-94. The A Company Commander made his decision and submitted his report without knowing how it would turn out. He didn’t know the brigade commander would back him up, but he reported his company’s status relative to the published Army standard anyway. He insisted on reporting the truth—which took character—because it was the right thing to do.

2-95. Character is important in living a consistent and moral life, but character doesn’t always provide the final answer to the specific question, What should I do now? Finding that answer can be called ethical reasoning. Chapter 4 outlines a process for ethical reasoning. When you read it, keep in mind that the process is much more complex than the steps indicate and that you must apply your own values, critical reasoning skills, and imagination to the situation. There are no formulas that will serve every time; sometimes you may not even come up with an answer that completely satisfies you. But if you embrace Army values and let them govern your actions, if you learn from your experiences and develop your skills over time, you’re as prepared as you can be to face the tough calls.

2-96. Some people try to set different Army values against one another, saying a problem is about loyalty versus honesty or duty versus respect. Leadership is more complicated than that; the world isn’t always black and white. If it were, leadership would be easy and anybody could do it. However, in the vast majority of cases, Army values are perfectly compatible; in fact, they reinforce each other.

CHARACTER AND ORDERS 2-97. Making the right choice and acting on it when faced with an ethical question can be difficult. Sometimes it means standing your ground. Sometimes it means telling your boss you think the boss is wrong, like the finance supervisor in Chapter 1 did. Situations like these test your character. But a situation in which you think you’ve received an illegal order can be even more difficult.

2-98. In Chapter 1 you read that a good leader executes the boss’s decision with energy and enthusiasm. The only exception to this principle is your duty to disobey illegal orders. This isn’t a privilege you can conveniently claim, but a duty you must perform. If you think an order is illegal, first be sure that you understand both the details of the order and its original intent. Seek

clarification from the person who gave the order. This takes moral courage, but the question will be straightforward: Did you really mean for me to…steal the part…submit a false report… shoot the prisoners? If the question is complex or time permits, always seek legal counsel. However, if you must decide immediately—as may happen in the heat of combat make the best judgment possible based on Army values, your experience, and your previous study and reflection. You take a risk when you disobey what you believe to be an illegal order. It may be the most difficult decision you’ll ever make, but that’s what leaders do.

2-99. While you’ll never be completely prepared for such a situation, spending time reflecting on Army values and leader attributes may help. Talk to your superiors, particularly those who

SH-2-7

PART TWO

Direct Leadership

The first three chapters of this manual cover the constants of leadership. They focus primarily on what a leader must BE. Part Two examines what a direct leader must KNOW and DO. Note the distinction between a skill, knowing something, and an action, doing something. The reason for this distinction bears repeating: knowledge isn’t enough. You can’t be a leader until you apply what you know, until you act and DO what you must.

Army leaders are grounded in the heritage, values, and tradition of the Army. They embody the warrior ethos, value continuous learning, and demonstrate the ability to lead and train their subordinates. Army leaders lead by example, train from experience, and maintain and enforce standards. They do these things while taking care of their people and adapting to a changing world. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss these subjects in detail.

The warrior ethos is the will to win with honor. Despite a thinking enemy, despite adverse conditions, you accomplish your mission. You express your character— the BE of BE, KNOW, DO—when you and your people confront a difficult mission and persevere. The warrior ethos applies to all soldiers and DA civilians, not just those who close with and destroy the enemy. It’s the will to meet mission demands no matter what, the drive to get the job done whatever the cost.

Continuous learning requires dedication to improving your technical and tactical skills through study and practice. It also includes learning about the world around you—mastering new technology, studying other cultures, staying aware of current events at home and abroad. All these things affect your job as a leader.

Continuous learning also means consciously developing your character through study and reflection. It means reflecting on Army values and developing leader attributes. Broad knowledge and strong character underlie the right decisions in hard times. Seek to learn as much as you can about your job, your people, and yourself. That way you’ll be prepared when the time comes for tough decisions. You’ll BE a leader of character, KNOW the necessary skills, and DO the right thing.

Army leaders train and lead people. Part of this responsibility is maintaining and enforcing standards. Your subordinates expect you to show them what the standard is and train them to it: they expect you to lead by example. In addition, as an Army leader you’re required to take care of your people. You may have to call on them to do things that seem impossible. You may have to ask them to make extraordinary sacrifices to accomplish the mission. If you train your people to standard, inspire the warrior ethos in them, and consistently look after their interests, they’ll be prepared to accomplish the mission—anytime, anywhere.

SH-2-8

Chapter 4

Direct Leadership Skills

Never get so caught up in cutting wood that you forget to sharpen your ax.

First Sergeant James J. Karolchyk, 1986

4-1. The Army’s direct leaders perform a huge array of functions in all kinds of places and under all kinds of conditions. Even as you read these pages, someone is in the field in a cold place, someone else in a hot place. There are people headed to a training exercise and others headed home. Somewhere a motor pool is buzzing, a medical ward operating, supplies moving. Somewhere a duty NCO is conducting inspections and a sergeant of the guard is making the rounds. In all these places, no matter what the conditions or the mission, direct

leaders are guided by the same principles, using the same skills, and performing the same actions.

4-2. This chapter discusses the skills a direct leader must master and develop. It addresses the KNOW of BE, KNOW, and DO for direct leaders. The skills are organized under the four skill groups Chapter 1 introduced: interpersonal, conceptual, technical, and tactical. (Appendix B lists performance indicators for leader skills.)

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

4-3. A DA civilian supervisor was in a frenzy because all the material needed for a project wasn’t available. The branch chief took the supervisor aside and said, “You’re worrying about things. Things are not important; things will or won’t be there. Worry about working with the people who will get the job done.”

4-4. Since leadership is about people, it’s not surprising to find interpersonal skills, what some call “people skills,” at the top of the list of what an Army leader must KNOW. Figure 4-1 (on page 4-3) identifies the direct leader interpersonal skills. All these skills—communicating, team building, supervising, and counseling—require communication. They’re all closely related; you can hardly use one without using the others.

COMMUNICATING 4-5. Since leadership is about getting other people to do what you want them to do, it follows that communicating—transmitting in-formation

so that it’s clearly understood—is an important skill. After all, if people can’t under-stand you, how will you ever let them know what you want? The other interpersonal skills—supervising, team building, and counseling—also depend on your ability to communicate.

4-6. If you take a moment to think about all the training you’ve received under the heading “communication,” you’ll see that it probably falls into four broad categories: speaking, reading, writing, and listening. You begin practicing speech early; many children are using words by the age of one. The heavy emphasis on reading and writing begins in school, if not before. Yet how many times have you been taught how to listen? Of the four forms of communication,

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS ...................4-2 CONCEPTUAL SKILLS .........................4-6 TECHNICAL SKILLS ...........................4-11 TACTICAL SKILLS ..............................4-12 SUMMARY ...........................................4-14

SH-2-9

Figure 4-1. Direct Leader Skills—Interpersonal

listening is the one in which most people receive the least amount of formal training. Yet for an Army leader, it’s every bit as important as the others. It often comes first because you must listen and understand before you can decide what to say.

One-Way and Two-Way Communication 4-7. There are two common forms of one-way communication that are not necessarily the best way to exchange information: seeing and hearing. The key difference between one-way and two-way communication is that one-way communication—hearing or seeing something on television, reading a copy of a slide presentation, or even watching a training event unfold—may not give you a complete picture. You may have unanswered questions or even walk away with the wrong concept of what has

occurred. That’s why two-way communication is preferred when time and resources permit.

Active Listening 4-8. An important form of two-way communication is active listening. When you practice active listening, you send signals to the speaker that say, “I’m paying attention.” Nod your head every once in a while, as if to say, “Yes, I under-stand.” When you agree with the speaker, you might use an occasional “uh-huh.” Look the speaker in the eye. Give the speaker your full attention. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by looking out the window, checking your watch, playing with something on your desk, or trying to do more than one thing at a time. Avoid interrupting the speaker; that’s the cardinal sin of active listening.

4-9. Be aware of barriers to listening. Don’t form your response while the other person is still talking. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by the fact that you’re angry, or that you have a problem with the speaker, or that you have lots of other things you need to be thinking about. If you give in to these temptations, you’ll miss most of what’s being said.

Nonverbal Communication 4-10. In face-to-face communication, even in the simplest conversation, there’s a great deal going on that has almost nothing to do with the words being used. Nonverbal communication involves all the signals you send with your facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. Effective leaders know that communication includes both verbal and nonverbal cues. Look for them in this example.

VAL

The Checking Account

A young soldier named PVT Bell, new to the unit, approaches his team leader, SGT Adams, and Says, “I have a problem I’d like to talk to you about.” The team leader makes time—right then if possible—to listen. Stopping, looking the soldier in the Eye, and asking, “What’s up?” sends many signals: I am concerned about your problem. You’re part of the team, and we help each other. What can I do to help? All these signals, by the way, reinforce Army values.

SH-2-10

The Checking Account (continued) PVT Bell sees the leader is paying attention and continues, “Well, I have this checking account, See,

and it’s the first time I’ve had one. I have lots of checks left, but for some reason the PX [post Exchange] is saying they’re no good.”

SGT Adams has seen this problem before: PVT Bell thinks that checks are like cash and has no Idea that there must be money in the bank to cover checks written against the account. SGT Adams, no matter how tempted, doesn’t say anything that would make PVT Bell think that his difficulty was anything other than the most important problem in the world. He is careful to make sure that PVT Bell doesn’t think that he’s anyone other than the most important soldier in the world. Instead, SGT Adams remembers life as a young soldier and how many things were new and strange. What may seem like an obvious problem to an experienced person isn’t so obvious to an inexperienced one. Although the soldier’s problem may seem funny, SGT Adams doesn’t laugh at the subordinate. And because nonverbal cues are important, SGT Adams is careful that his tone of voice and facial expressions don’t convey contempt or disregard for the subordinate.

Instead, the leader listens patiently as PVT Bell explains the problem; then SGT Adams reassures PVT Bell that it can be fixed and carefully explains the solution. What’s more, SGT Adams follows up later to make sure the soldier has straightened things out with the bank.

A few months later, a newly promoted PFC Bell realizes that this problem must have looked pretty silly to someone with SGT Adams’ experience. But PFC Bell will always remember the example SGT Adams set. Future leaders are groomed every day and reflect their past leaders. By the simple act of listening and communicating, SGT Adams won the loyalty of PFC Bell. And when the next batch of new soldiers arrives, PFC Bell, now the old-timer, will say to them, “Yeah, in all my experience, I’ve got to say this is one of the best units in the Army. And SGT Adams is the best team leader around. Why, I remember a time…”

4-11. SGT Adams performed crisis counseling, a leader action Appendix C discusses. Look for the communicating skills in this example. SGT Adams listened actively and controlled his non-verbal communication. He gave PVT Bell his full attention and was careful not to signal indifference or a lack of concern. SGT Adams’ ability to do this shows the mental attribute of self-discipline and the emotional attribute of self-control, which you read about in Chapter 2. The leader also displayed empathy, that is, sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person. It’s an important quality for a counselor.

SUPERVISING If a squad leader doesn’t check, and the guy on point has no batteries for his night vision goggles, he has just degraded the effectiveness of the entire unit.

A Company Commander, Desert Storm

4-12. Direct leaders check and recheck things. Leaders strike a balance between checking too much and not checking enough. Training sub-ordinates to act independently is important; that’s why direct leaders give instructions or their

intent and then allow subordinates to work without constantly looking over their shoulders. Accomplishing the mission is equally important; that’s why leaders check things—especially conditions critical to the mission (fuel levels), details a soldier might forget (spare batteries for night vision goggles), or tasks at the limit of what a soldier has accomplished before (preparing a new version of a re-port).

4-13. Checking minimizes the chance of oversights, mistakes, or other circumstances that might derail a mission. Checking also gives leaders a chance to see and recognize subordinates who are doing things right or make on-the-spot corrections when necessary. Consider this example: A platoon sergeant delegates to the platoon’s squad leaders the authority to get their squads ready for a tactical road march. The platoon sergeant oversees the activity but doesn’t intervene unless errors, sloppy work, or lapses occur. The leader is there to answer questions or resolve problems that the squad leaders can’t handle. This supervision ensures that the squads are prepared to standard and demonstrates to the squad leaders that the platoon sergeant cares about them and their people.

SH-2-11

The Rusty Rifles Incident While serving in the Republic of Vietnam, SFC Jackson was transferred from platoon sergeant of one

platoon to platoon leader of another platoon in the same company. SFC Jackson quickly sized up the existing standards in the platoon. He wasn’t pleased. One problem was that his soldiers were not keeping their weapons cleaned properly: rifles were dirty and rusty. He put out the word: weapons would be cleaned to standard each day, each squad leader would inspect each day, and he would inspect a sample of the weapons each day. He gave this order three days before the platoon was to go to the division rest and recuperation (R&R) area on the South China Sea.

The next day SFC Jackson checked several weapons in each squad. Most weapons were still unacceptable. He called the squad leaders together and explained the policy and his reasons for implementing it. SFC Jackson checked again the following day and still found dirty and rusty weapons. He decided there were two causes for the problem. First, the squad leaders were not doing their jobs. Second, the squad leaders and troops were bucking him—testing him to see who would really make the rules in the platoon. He sensed that, because he was new, they resisted his leadership. He knew he had a serious discipline problem he had to handle correctly. He called the squad leaders together again. Once again, he explained his standards clearly. He then said, “Tomorrow we are due to go on R&R for three days and I’ll be inspecting rifles. We won’t go on R&R until each weapon in this platoon meets the standard.”

The next morning SFC Jackson inspected and found that most weapons in each squad were still below standard. He called the squad leaders together. With a determined look and a firm voice, he told them he would hold a formal in-ranks inspection at 1300 hours, even though the platoon was scheduled to board helicopters for R&R then. If every weapon didn’t meet the standard, he would conduct another in-ranks inspection for squad leaders and troops with substandard weapons. He would continue inspections until all weapons met the standard.

At 1300 hours the platoon formed up, surly and angry with the new platoon leader, who was taking their hard-earned R&R time. The soldiers could hardly believe it, but his message was starting to sink in. This leader meant what he said. This time all weapons met the standard.

COUNSELING

Nothing will ever replace one person looking another in the eyes and telling the soldier his strengths and weaknesses. [Counseling] charts a path to success and diverts soldiers from heading down the wrong road.

Sergeant Major Randolph S. Hollingsworth

4-14. Counseling is subordinate-centered communication that produces a plan outlining actions necessary for subordinates to achieve individual or organizational goals. Effective counseling takes time, patience, and practice. As with everything else you do, you must develop your skills as a counselor. Seek feedback on how effective you are at counseling, study various counseling techniques, and make efforts to improve. (Appendix C discusses developmental counseling techniques.)

4-15. Proper counseling leads to a specific plan of action that the subordinate can use as a road

map for improvement. Both parties, counselor and counseled, prepare this plan of action. The leader makes certain the subordinate understands and takes ownership of it. The best plan of action in the world does no good if the subordinate doesn’t understand it, follow it, and believe in it. And once the plan of action is agreed upon, the leader must follow up with one-on-one sessions to ensure the subordinate stays on track.

4-16. Remember the Army values of loyalty, duty, and selfless service require you to counsel your subordinates. The values of honor, integrity, and personal courage require you to give them straightforward feedback. And the Army value of respect requires you to find the best way to communicate that feedback so that your subordinates understand it. These Army values all point to the requirement for you to become a proficient counselor. Effective counseling helps your subordinates develop personally and professionally.

4-17. One of the most important duties of all direct, organizational, and strategic leaders is to

SH-2-12

develop subordinates. Mentoring, which links the operating and improving leader actions, plays a major part in developing competent and confident future leaders. Counseling is an

interpersonal skill essential to effective mentoring. (Chapters 5, 6, and 7 discuss the direct, organizational, and strategic leader mentoring actions.)

CONCEPTUAL SKILLS

4-18. Conceptual skills include competence in handling ideas, thoughts, and concepts. Figure 4-2 (on page 4-7) lists the direct leader conceptual skills.

CRITICAL REASONING 4-19. Critical reasoning helps you think through problems. It’s the key to understanding situations, finding causes, arriving at justifiable conclusions, making good judgments, and learning from the experience—in short, solving problems. Critical reasoning is an essential part of effective counseling and underlies ethical reasoning, another conceptual skill. It’s also a central aspect of decision making, which Chapter 5 discusses.

4-20. The word “critical” here doesn’t mean finding fault; it doesn’t have a negative meaning at all. It means getting past the surface of the problem and thinking about it in depth. It means

looking at a problem from several points of view instead of just being satisfied with the first answer that comes to mind. Army leaders need this ability because many of the choices they face are complex and offer no easy solution.

4-21. Sometime during your schooling you probably ran across a multiple choice test, one that required you to “choose answer a, b, c, or d” or “choose one response from column a and two from column b.” Your job as an Army leader would be a lot easier if the problems you faced were presented that way, but leadership is a lot more complex than that. Sometimes just figuring out the real problem presents a huge hurdle; at other times you have to sort through distracting multiple problems to get to the real difficulty. On some occasions you know what the problem is but have no clue as to what an answer might be. On others you can come up with two or three answers that all look pretty good.

Finding the Real Problem A platoon sergeant directs the platoon’s squad leaders to counsel their soldiers every month and

keep written records. Three months later, the leader finds the records are sloppy or incomplete; in many cases, there’s no record at all. The platoon sergeant’s first instinct is to chew out the squad leaders for ignoring his instructions. It even occurs to him to write a counseling annex to the platoon SOP so he can point to it the next time the squad leaders fail to follow instructions.

But those are just knee-jerk reactions and the platoon sergeant knows it. Instead of venting his frustration, the leader does a little investigating and finds that two squad leaders have never really been taught how to do formal, written counseling. The third one has no idea why counseling is important. So what looked like a disciplinary problem—the squad leaders disobeying instructions—turns out to be a training shortfall. By thinking beyond the surface and by checking, the platoon sergeant was able to isolate the real problem: that the squad leaders had not been trained in counseling. The next step is to begin training and motivating subordinates to do the tasks.

SH-2-13

Figure 4-2. Direct Leader Skills-Conceptual

CREATIVE THINKING 4-22. Sometimes you run into a problem that

you haven’t seen before or an old problem that requires a new solution. Here you must apply imagination; a radical departure from the old way of doing things may be refreshing. Army leaders prevent complacency by finding ways to challenge subordinates with new approaches and ideas. In these cases, rely on your intuition, experience, and knowledge. Ask for input from your subordinates. Reinforce team building by making everybody responsible for, and shareholders in, the accomplishment of difficult tasks.

4-23. Creative thinking isn’t some mysterious gift, nor does it have to be outlandish. It’s not reserved for senior officers; all leaders think creatively. You employ it every day to solve small problems. A unit that deploys from a stateside post on a peace operation, for instance, may find itself in a small compound with limited athletic facilities and no room to run. Its leaders must devise new ways for their soldiers to maintain physical fitness. These may include sports and games, even games the local nationals play.

Pulling Dragons’ Teeth As American forces approached the Siegfried Line between Germany and France at the end of World

War II, the armored advance was slowed by "dragons’ teeth," concrete obstacles that looked like large, tightly spaced traffic cones. Engineers predicted it would take many days and tons of explosives to reduce the obstacles, which were heavily reinforced and deeply rooted. Then an NCO suggested using bulldozers to push dirt on top of the spikes, creating an earthen ramp to allow tanks to drive over the obstacles. This is but one example of the creative thinking by American soldiers of all ranks that contributed to victory in the ETO.

ETHICAL REASONING 4-24. Ethical leaders do the right things for the right reasons all the time, even when no one is watching. But figuring out what’s the "right" thing is often, to put it mildly, a most difficult task. To fulfill your duty, maintain your integrity, and serve honorably, you must be able to reason ethically.

4-25. Occasionally, when there’s little or no time, you’ll have to make a snap decision based on your experience and intuition about what feels right. For Army leaders, such decisions are guided by Army values (discussed in Chapter 2), the institutional culture, and the organizational climate (discussed in Chapter 3). These shared

values then serve as a basis for the whole team’s buying into the leader’s decision. But comfortable as this might be, you should not make all decisions on intuition.

4-26. When there’s time to consider alternatives, ask for advice, and think things through, you can make a deliberate decision. First determine what’s legally right by law and regulation. In gray areas requiring interpretation, apply Army values to the situation. Inside those boundaries, determine the best possible answer from among competing solutions, make your decision, and act on it.

4-27. The distinction between snap and

SH-2-14

deliberate decisions is important. In many decisions, you must think critically because your intuition—what feels right—may lead to the wrong answer. In combat especially, the intuitive response won’t always work.

4-28. The moral application of force goes to the heart of military ethics. S. L. A. Marshall, a military historian as well as a brigadier general, has written that the typical soldier is often at a disadvantage in combat because he "comes from a civilization in which aggression, connected with the taking of a human life, is prohibited and unacceptable." Artist Jon Wolfe, an infantryman in Vietnam, once said that the first time he aimed his weapon at another human being, a "little voice" in the back of his mind asked, "Who gave you permission to do this?" That "little voice" comes, of course, from a lifetime of living within the law. You can determine the right thing to do in these very unusual circumstances only when you apply ethical as well as critical reasoning.

4-29. The right action in the situation you face may not be in regulations or field manuals. Even the most exhaustive regulations can’t predict every situation. They’re designed for the routine, not the exceptional. One of the most difficult tasks facing you as an Army leader is determining when a rule or regulation simply doesn’t apply because the situation you’re facing falls outside the set of conditions envisioned by those who wrote the regulation. Remember COL Chamberlain on Little Round Top. The drill manuals he had studied didn’t contain the solution to the tactical problem he faced; neither this nor any other manual contain "cookbook" solutions to ethical questions you will confront. COL Chamberlain applied the doctrine he learned from the drill manuals. So you should apply Army values, your knowledge, and your experience to any decision you make and be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions. Study, reflection, and ethical reasoning can help you do this.

4-30. Ethical reasoning takes you through these steps:

• Define the problem.

• Know the relevant rules.

• Develop and evaluate courses of action.

• Choose the course of action that best represents Army values.

4-31. These steps correspond to some of the steps of the decision making leadership action in Chapter 5. Thus, ethical reasoning isn’t a separate process you trot out only when you think you’re facing an ethical question. It should be part of the thought process you use to make any decision. Your subordinates count on you to do more than make tactically sound decisions. They rely on you to make decisions that are ethically sound as well. You should always consider ethical factors and, when necessary, use Army values to gauge what’s right.

4-32. That said, not every decision is an ethical problem. In fact, most decisions are ethically neutral. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to think about the ethical consequences of your actions. Only if you reflect on whether what you’re asked to do or what you ask your people to do accords with Army values will you develop that sense of right and wrong that marks ethical people and great leaders. That sense of right and wrong alerts you to the presence of ethical aspects when you face a decision

4-33. Ethical reasoning is an art, not a science, and sometimes the best answer is going to be hard to determine. Often, the hardest decisions are not between right and wrong, but between shades of right. Regulations may allow more than one choice. There may even be more than one good answer, or there may not be enough time to conduct a long review. In those cases, you must rely on your judgment.

Define the Problem 4-34. Defining the problem is the first step in making any decision. When you think a decision may have ethical aspects or effects, it’s especially important to define it precisely. Know who said what—and what specifically was said, ordered, or demanded. Don’t settle for secondhand information; get the details.

Problems can be described in more than one way. This is the hardest step in solving any problem. It’s especially difficult for decisions in the face of potential ethical conflicts. Too often some people come to rapid conclusions about the nature of a problem and end up applying solutions to what turn out to be only symptoms.

Know the Relevant Rules

SH-2-15

4-35. This step is part of fact gathering, the second step in problem solving. Do your homework. Sometimes what looks like an ethical problem may stem from a misunderstanding of a regulation or policy, frustration, or over-enthusiasm. Sometimes the person who gave an order or made a demand didn’t check the regulation and a thorough reading may make the problem go away. Other times, a difficult situation results from trying to do something right in the wrong way. Also, some regulations leave room for interpretation; the problem then becomes a policy matter rather than an ethical one. If you do perceive an ethical problem, explain it to the person you think is causing it and try to come up with a better way to do the job.

Develop and Evaluate Courses of Action 4-36. Once you know the rules, lay out possible courses of action. As with the previous steps, you do this whenever you must make a decision. Next, consider these courses of action in view of Army values. Consider the consequences of your courses of action by asking yourself a few practical questions: Which course of action best upholds Army values? Do any of the courses of action compromise Army values? Does any course of action violate a principle, rule, or regulation identified in Step 2? Which course of action is in the best interest of the Army and of the nation? This part will feel like a juggling act; but with careful ethical reflection, you can

reduce the chaos, determine the essentials, and choose the best course—even when that choice is the least bad of a set of undesirable options.

Choose the Course of Action That Best Represents Army Values 4-37. The last step in solving any problem is making a decision and acting on it. Leaders are paid to make decisions. As an Army leader, you’re expected—by your bosses and your people—to make decisions that solve problems without violating Army values.

4-38. As a values-based organization, the Army uses expressed values—Army values—to provide its fundamental ethical framework. Army values lay out the ethical standards expected of soldiers and DA civilians. Taken together, Army values and ethical decision making provide a moral touchstone and a workable process that enable you to make sound ethical decisions and take right actions confidently.

4-39. The ethical aspects of some decisions are more obvious that those of others. This example contains an obvious ethical problem. The issues will seldom be so clear-cut; however, as you read the example, focus on the steps SGT Kirk follows as he moves toward an ethical decision. Follow the same steps when you seek to do the right thing.

SH-2-16

The EFMB Test SGT Kirk, who has already earned the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB), is assigned as a grader on the division’s EFMB course. Sergeant Kirk’s squad leader, SSG Michaels, passes through SGT Kirk’s station and fails the task. Just before SGT Kirk records the score, SSG Michaels pulls him aside. "I need my EFMB to get promoted," SSG Michaels says. "You can really help me out here; it’s only a couple of points anyway. No big deal. Show a little loyalty." SGT Kirk wants to help SSG Michaels, who’s been an excellent squad leader and who’s loyal to his subordinates. SSG Michaels even spent two Saturdays helping SGT Kirk prepare for his promotion board. If SGT Kirk wanted to make this easy on himself, he would say the choice is between honesty and loyalty. Then he could choose loyalty, falsify the score, and send everyone home happy. His life under SSG Michaels would probably be much easier too. However, SGT Kirk would not have defined the problem correctly. (Remember, defining the problem is often the hardest step in ethical reasoning.) SGT Kirk knows the choice isn’t between loyalty and honesty. Loyalty doesn’t require that he lie. In fact, lying would be disloyal to the Army, himself, and the soldiers who met the standard. To falsify the score would also be a violation of the trust and confidence the Army placed in him when he was made an NCO and a grader. SGT Kirk knows that loyalty to the Army and the NCO corps comes first and that giving SSG Michaels a passing score would be granting the squad leader an unfair advantage. SGT Kirk knows it would be wrong to be a coward in the face of this ethical choice, just as it would be wrong to be a coward in battle. And if all that were not enough, when SGT Kirk imagines seeing the incident in the newspaper the next morning—Trusted NCO Lies to Help Boss—he knows what he must do. 4-40. When SGT Kirk stands his ground and does the right thing, it may cost him some pain in the short run, but the entire Army benefits. If he makes the wrong choice, he weakens the Army. Whether or not the Army lives by its values isn’t just up to generals and colonels; it’s up to each of the thousands of SGT Kirks, the Army leaders who must make tough calls when no one is watching, when the easy thing to do is the wrong thing to do.

REFLECTIVE THINKING 4-41. Leader development doesn’t occur in a vacuum. All leaders must be open to feedback on their performance from multiple perspectives—seniors, peers, and subordinates. But being open to feedback is only one part of the equation. As a leader, you must also listen to and use the feedback: you must be able to reflect. Reflecting is the ability to take information, assess it, and apply it to behavior to explain why things did or did not go well. You can then use the resulting explanations to improve future behavior. Good leaders are

always striving to become better leaders. This means you need consistently to assess your strengths and weaknesses and reflect on what you can do to sustain your strengths and correct your weaknesses. To become a better leader, you must be willing to change.

4-42. For reasons discussed fully in Chapter 5, the Army often places a premium on doing—on the third element of BE, KNOW, DO. All Army leaders are busy dealing with what’s on their plates and investing a lot of energy in accomplishing tasks. But how often do they take the time to STOP and really THINK about what they are doing? How often have you seen this sign on a leader’s door: Do Not Disturb—Busy Reflecting? Not often. Well, good leaders need to take the time to think and reflect. Schedule it; start really exercising your capacity to get feedback. Then reflect on it and use it to improve. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, but there’s plenty wrong with not learning from those mistakes. Reflection is the means to that end.

SH-2-17

TECHNICAL SKILLS

The first thing the senior NCOs had to do was to determine who wasn’t qualified with his weapon, who didn’t have his protective mask properly tested and sealed—just all the basic little things. Those things had to be determined real fast.

A Command Sergeant Major, Desert Storm

Figure 4-3. Direct Leader Skills-Technical

KNOWING EQUIPMENT 4-43. Technical skill is skill with things—equipment, weapons, systems—everything from

the towing winch on the front of a vehicle to the computer that keeps track of corps personnel actions. Direct leaders must know their equipment and how to operate it. Figure 4-3 highlights direct leader technical skills. Technical manuals, training circulars, SOPs, and all the

other publications necessary for efficient, effective performance explain specific skills more completely.

4-44. Direct leaders are closer to their equipment than organizational and strategic leaders. Thus, they have a greater need to know how it works and how to use it. In addition, direct leaders are the experts who are called upon to solve problems with the equipment, the ones who figure out how to make it work better, how to apply it, how to fix it—even how to modify it. Sergeants, junior officers, warrant officers, wage grade employees, and journeymen are the Army’s technical experts and best teachers. Subordinates expect their first-line leaders to know their equipment and be experts in all the applicable technical skills.

OPERATING EQUIPMENT 4-45. Direct leaders know how to operate their equipment and make sure their people do as well. They set the example with a hands-on approach. When new equipment arrives, direct leaders find out how it works, learn how to use it themselves, and train their subordinates to do the same.

Technical Skill into Combat Power Technical skill gave the Army a decided advantage in the 1944 battle for France. For example, the

German Army had nothing like the US Army’s maintenance battalions. Such an organization was a new idea, and a good one. These machine-age units were able to return almost half the battle-damaged tanks to action within two days. The job was done by young men who had been working at gas stations and body shops two years earlier and had brought their skill into the service of their country. Instead of fixing cars, they replaced damaged tank tracks, welded patches on the armor, and repaired engines. These combat supporters dragged tanks that were beyond repair to the rear and stripped them for parts. The Germans just left theirs in place.

I felt we had to get back to the basic soldier skills. The basics of setting up a training

SH-2-18

schedule for every soldier every day. We had to execute the standard field disciplines, such as NCOs checking weapons cleanliness and ensuring soldiers practiced personal hygiene daily. Our job is to go out there and kill the enemy. In order to do that, as Fehrenbach writes in [his study of the Korean Conflict entitled] This Kind of War, we have to have disciplined teams; discipline brings pride to the unit. Discipline coupled with tough, realistic training is the key to high morale in units. Soldiers want to belong to good outfits, and our job as leaders is to give them the best outfit we can.

4-46. This company commander is talking about two levels of skill. First is the individual level: soldiers are trained with their equipment and know how to do their jobs. Next is the collective level: leaders take these trained individuals and form them into teams. The result: a whole greater than the sum of its parts, a team that’s more than just a collection of trained individuals, an organization that’s capable of much more than any one of its elements. (FM 7-0 discusses how to integrate individual, collective, and leader training).

A Company Commander, Desert Storm

TACTICAL SKILLS Man is and always will be the supreme element in combat, and upon the skill, the courage and endurance, and the fighting heart of the individual soldier the issue will ultimately depend.

General Matthew B. Ridgway Former Army Chief of Staff

Figure 4-4. Direct Leader Skills-Tactical

DOCTRINE 4-47. Tactics is the art and science of employing available means to win battles and engagements. The science of tactics encompasses capabilities, techniques, and procedures that can be codified. The art of tactics includes the creative and flexible array of means to accomplish assigned missions, decision making when faced with an intelligent enemy, and the effects of combat on soldiers.

Together, FM 100-34, FM 100-40, and branch-specific doctrinal manuals capture the tactical skills that are essential to mastering both the science and the art of tactics. Figure 4-4 highlights direct leader tactical skills.

FIELDCRAFT 4-48. Fieldcraft consists of the skills soldiers need to sustain themselves in the field. Proficiency in fieldcraft reduces the likelihood soldiers will become casualties. The requirement to be able to do one’s job in a field environment distinguishes the soldier’s profession from most civilian occupations. Likewise, the requirement that Army leaders make sure their soldiers take care of themselves and pro-vide them with the means to do so is unique.

4-49. The Soldier’s Manual of Common Tasks lists the individual skills all soldiers must master to operate effectively in the field. Those skills include everything from how to stay healthy, to how to pitch a tent, to how to run a heater. Some military occupational specialties (MOS) require proficiency in additional fieldcraft skills. Soldier’s Manuals for these MOS list them.

SH-2-19

4-50. Army leaders gain proficiency in fieldcraft through schooling, study, and practice. Once learned, few fieldcraft skills are difficult. How-ever, they are easy to neglect during exercises, when everyone knows that the exercise will end at a specific time, sick and injured soldiers are always evacuated, and the adversary isn’t using real ammunition. During peacetime, it’s up to Army leaders to enforce tactical discipline, to make sure their soldiers practice the fieldcraft skills that will keep them from becoming casualties— battle or nonbattle—during operations.

TACTICAL SKILLS AND TRAINING 4-51. Direct leaders are the Army’s primary tactical trainers, both for individuals and for teams. Practicing tactical skills is often challenging. The best way to improve individual and collective skills is to replicate operational conditions. Unfortunately, Army leaders can’t always get the whole unit out in the field to practice maneuvers, so they make do with training parts of it separately. Sometimes they can’t get the people, the time, and the money all together at the right time and the right place to

train the entire team. There are always training distracters. There will always be a hundred excuses not to train together and one reason why such training must occur: units fight as they train. (FM 7-0 and FM 7-1 discuss training principles and techniques.)

4-52. Unfortunately, the Army has been caught unprepared for war more than once. In July 1950, American troops who had been on occupation duty in Japan were thrown into combat when North Korean forces invaded South Korea. Ill-trained, ill-equipped, and out of shape, they went into action and were overrun. How-ever, that same conflict provides another example of how well things can go when a direct leader has tactical skill, the ability to pull people and things together into a team. Near the end of November 1950, American forces were chasing the remnants of the broken North Korean People’s Army into the remote northern corners of the Korean Peninsula. Two American units pushed all the way to the Yalu River, which forms the boundary between North Korea and the People’s Republic of China. One was the 17th Infantry Regiment. The other was a task force commanded by a 24-year-old first lieutenant named Joseph Kingston.

Task Force Kingston 1LT Joseph Kingston, a boyish-looking platoon leader in K Company, 3d Battalion, 32d Infantry, was

the lead element for his battalion’s move northward. The terrain was mountainous, the weather bitterly cold—the temperature often below zero—and the cornered enemy still dangerous. 1LT Kingston inched his way forward, with the battalion adding elements to his force. He had antiaircraft jeeps mounted with quad .50 caliber machine guns, a tank, a squad (later a platoon) of engineers, and an artillery forward observer. Some of these attachments were commanded by lieutenants who outranked him, as did a captain who was the tactical air controller. But 1LT Kingston remained in command, and battalion headquarters began referring to Task Force Kingston.

Bogged down in Yongsong-ni with casualties mounting, Task Force Kingston received reinforcements that brought the number of men to nearly 300. Despite tough fighting, the force continued to move northward. 1LT Kingston’s battalion commander wanted him to remain in command, even though they sent several more officers who outranked 1LT Kingston. One of the attached units was a rifle company, commanded by a captain. But the arrangement worked, mostly because 1LT Kingston himself was an able leader. Hit while leading an assault on one enemy stronghold, he managed to toss a grenade just as a North Korean soldier shot him in the head. His helmet, badly grazed, saved his life. His personal courage inspired his men and the soldiers from the widely varied units who were under his control. Task Force Kingston was commanded by the soldier who showed, by courage and personal example, that he could handle the job.

SH-2-20

4-53. 1LT Kingston made the task force work by applying skills at a level of responsibility far above what was normal for a soldier of his rank and experience. He knew how to shoot, move, and communicate. He knew the fundamentals of his profession. He employed the weapons under his command and controlled a rather unwieldy

collection of combat assets. He understood small-unit tactics and applied his reasoning skills to make decisions. He fostered a sense of teamwork, even in this collection of units that had never trained together. Finally, he set the example with personal courage.

SUMMARY

4-54. Direct leadership is face-to-face, first-line leadership. It takes place in organizations where subordinates are used to seeing their leaders all the time: teams, squads, sections, platoons, companies, and battalions. To be effective, direct leaders must master many interpersonal, conceptual, technical, and tactical skills.

4-55. Direct leaders are first-line leaders. They apply the conceptual skills of critical reasoning and creative thinking to determine the best way to accomplish the mission. They use ethical reasoning to make sure their choice is the right thing to do, and they use reflective thinking to assess and improve team performance, their subordinates, and themselves. They employ the interpersonal skills of communicating and supervising to get the job done. They develop their people by mentoring and counseling and

mold them into cohesive teams by training them to standard.

4-56. Direct leaders are the Army’s technical experts and best teachers. Both their bosses and their people expect them to know their equipment and be experts in all the applicable technical skills. On top of that, direct leaders combine those skills with the tactical skills of doctrine, fieldcraft, and training to accomplish tactical missions.

4-57. Direct leaders use their competence to foster discipline in their units and to develop soldiers and DA civilians of character. They use their mastery of equipment and doctrine to train their subordinates to standard. They create and sustain teams with the skill, trust, and confidence to succeed—in peace and war.

SH-2-21

being sensitive to your subordinates’ professional development and cultural needs is part of the cultural awareness leader attribute. As an Army leader, you must know your people and take advantage of every resource available to help your subordinates develop as leaders. This includes other leaders who have skills or attributes different from your own.

Coaching involves a leader’s assessing performance based on observations, helping the subordinate develop an effective plan of action to sustain strengths and overcome weaknesses, and supporting the subordinate and the plan.

5-97. You can consider coaching to be both an operating and an improving leader action. It’s less formal than teaching. When you’re dealing with individuals, coaching is a form of specific instance counseling (which Appendix C discusses). When you’re dealing with all or part of a team, it’s generally associated with AARs (which you read about earlier in this chapter).

5-98. Coaching follows naturally from the assessing leader action. As you observe your subordinates at work, you’ll see them perform some tasks to standard and some not to standard. Some of their plans will work; some won’t. Your subordinates know when you’re watching them. They expect you to tell them what they need to do to meet the standard, improve the team’s performance, or develop them-selves. You provide this sort of feedback through coaching. And don’t limit your coaching to formal sessions. Use every opportunity to teach, counsel or coach from quarterly training briefings to AARs. Teaching moments and coaching opportunities occur all the time when you concentrate on developing leaders.

Mentoring and Developing Tomorrow’s Army

5-99. Mentoring is demanding business, but the future of the Army depends on the trained and effective leaders whom you leave behind. Sometimes it requires you to set priorities, to balance short-term readiness with long-term leader development. The commitment to

mentoring future leaders may require you to take risks. It requires you to give subordinates the opportunity to learn and develop themselves while using your experience to guide them without micromanaging. Mentoring will lead your subordinates to successes that build their confidence and skills for the future.

5-100. Mentoring isn’t something new for the Army. Past successes and failures can often be traced to how seriously those in charge took the challenge of developing future leaders. As you consider the rapid pace of change in today’s world, it’s critical that you take the time to develop leaders capable of responding to that change. The success of the next generation of Army leaders depends on how well you accept the responsibility of mentoring your subordinates. Competent and confident leaders trained to meet tomorrow’s challenges and fight and win future conflicts will be your legacy.

5-101. As you assume positions of greater responsibility, as the number of people for whom you are responsible increases, you need to do even more to develop your subordinates. More, in this case, means establishing a leader development program for your organization. It also means encouraging your subordinates to take actions to develop themselves personally and professionally. In addition, you may have to provide time for them to pursue self-development. (FM 7-1 discusses leader development programs.)

What have YOU done TODAY to develop the leaders of tomorrow’s Army?

BUILDING Building Teams

5-102. You’ve heard—no doubt countless times—that the Army is a team. Just how important is it that people have a sense of the team? Very important. The national cause, the purpose of the mission, and all the larger concerns may not be visible from the battlefield.

SH-2-22

Regardless of other issues, soldiers perform for the other people in the squad or section, for others in the team or crew, for the person on their right or left. This is a fundamental truth: soldiers perform because they don’t want to let their buddies down.

5-103. If the leaders of the small teams that make up the Army are competent, and if their members trust one another, those teams and the larger team of teams will hang together and get the job done. People who belong to a successful team look at nearly everything in a positive light; their winners’ attitudes are infectious, and they see problems as challenges rather than obstacles. Additionally, a cohesive

team accomplishes the mission much more efficiently than a group of individuals. Just as a football team practices to win on the gridiron, so must a team of soldiers practice to be effective on the battlefield.

5-104. Training together builds collective competence; trust is a product of that competence. Subordinates learn to trust their leaders if the leaders know how to do their jobs and act consistently—if they say what they mean and mean what they say. Trust also springs from the collective competence of the team. As the team becomes more experienced and enjoys more successes, it becomes more cohesive.

Trust Earned In a 1976 interview, Congressman Hamilton Fish of New York told of his experiences as a white

officer with the 369th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit in the segregated Army of 1917. Fish knew that his unit would function only if his soldiers trusted him; his soldiers, all of whom had volunteered for combat duty, deserved nothing less than a trustworthy leader. When a white regiment threatened to attack the black soldiers in training camp, Fish, his pistol drawn, alerted the leaders of that regiment and headed off a disaster.

"There was one thing they wanted above all from a white officer," [Fish recalled in an interview nearly 60 years later] "and that was fair treatment. You see, even in New York City [home of most of his soldiers] they really did not get a square deal most of the time. But if they felt you were on the level with them, they would go all out for you. And they seemed to have a sixth sense in realizing just how you felt. I sincerely wanted to lead them as real soldiers, and they knew it."

5-105. Developing teams takes hard work, patience, and quite a bit of interpersonal skill on the part of the leader, but it’s a worthwhile investment. Good teams get the job done. People who are part of a good team complete the mission on time with the resources given them and a minimum of wasted effort; in combat, good teams are the most effective and take the fewest casualties.

5-106. Good teams—

• Work together to accomplish the mission.

• Execute tasks thoroughly and quickly.

• Meet or exceed the standard.

• Thrive on demanding challenges.

• Learn from their experiences and are proud of their accomplishments.

5-107. The Army is a team that includes members who are not soldiers but whose contributions are essential to mission success. The contributions made by almost 1,600 DA civilians in the Persian Gulf region were all but lost in the celebrations surrounding the military victory against Iraq and the homecoming celebration for the soldiers that followed. However, one safety specialist noted that these deployed DA civilians recognized the need for a team effort:

Patriotism was their drawing force for being there. We were part of the team supporting our soldiers! The focus is where it should be—on the military. They’re here to do the job; we’re here to help them.

SH-2-23

5-108. People will do the most extraordinary things for their buddies. It’s your job as an Army leader to pull each member into the team because you may someday ask that person for extraordinary effort. Team building involves applying interpersonal leader skills that trans-form individuals into productive teams. If you’ve done your work, the team member won’t let you down.

5-109. Within a larger team, smaller teams may be at different stages of development. For instance, members of First Squad may be used to working together. They trust one another and get the job done—usually exceeding the standard—with no wasted motion. Second Squad in the same platoon just received three new soldiers and a team leader from another company. As a team, Second Squad is less mature; it will take them some time to get up to the level of First Squad. New team members have to learn how things work: they have to be brought on board and made to feel members of the team; they must learn the standards and the climate of their new unit; they’ll have to demonstrate some competence before other members really accept them; and finally, they must practice working together. Leaders, who must oversee all this, are better equipped if they know what to expect. Make use of the information on the next few pages; learn what to look for—and stay flexible.

5-110. Figure 5-5 lists things you must do to pull a team together, get it going in the right direction, and keep it moving. And that list only hints at the work that lies ahead as you get your team to work together. Your subordinates must know—must truly believe—that they’re a part of the team, that their contribution is important and valued. They must know that you’ll train them and listen to them. They don’t want you to let them get away with shoddy work or half-baked efforts; there’s no pride in loafing. You must constantly observe, counsel, develop, listen; you must be every bit the team player you want your subordinates to be—and more.

5-111. Teams don’t come together by accident;

leaders must build and guide them through a series of developmental stages: formation, enrichment, and sustainment. This discussion may make the process seem more orderly than it actually is; as with so many things leaders do, the reality is more complicated than the explanation. Each team develops differently: the boundaries between stages are not hard and fast. As a leader, you must be sensitive to the characteristics of the team you’re building and of its individual members—your people. Compare the characteristics of your team with the team building stage descriptions. The information that results can help you determine what to expect of your team and what you need to do to improve its capabilities.

Stages of Team Building 5-112. Teams, like individuals, have different personalities. As with individuals, the leader’s job isn’t to make teams that are clones of one another; the job is to make best use of the peculiar talents of the team, maximize the potential of the unit climate, and motivate aggressive execution.

5-113. Formation stage. Teams work best when new members are brought on board quickly, when they’re made to feel a part of the team. The two steps—reception and orientation—are dramatically different in peace and war. In combat, this sponsorship process can literally mean life or death to new members and to the team.

5-114. Reception is the leader’s welcome: the orientation begins with meeting other team members, learning the layout of the workplace, learning the schedule and other requirements, and generally getting to know the lay of the land. In combat, leaders may not have time to spend with new members. In this case, new arrivals are often assigned a buddy who will help them get oriented and keep them out of trouble until they learn their way around. Whatever technique you use, your soldiers should never encounter a situation similar to the one in the next example.

SH-2-24

Figure 5-5. Team Building Stages

SH-2-25

Replacements in the ETO Most historians writing about World War II agree that the replacement system that fed new soldiers

into the line units was seriously flawed, especially in the ETO, and did tremendous harm to the soldiers and the Army. Troops fresh from stateside posts were shuffled about in tent cities where they were just numbers. 1LT George Wilson, an infantry company commander who received one hundred replacements on December 29, 1944, in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge, remembers the results: “We discovered that these men had been on a rifle range only once; they had never thrown a grenade or fired a bazooka [antitank rocket], mortar or machine gun.”

PVT Morris Dunn, another soldier who ended up with the 84th Division after weeks in a Replacement depot recalls how the new soldiers felt: “We were just numbers, we didn’t know anybody, and I’ve never felt so alone and miserable and helpless in my entire life—we’d been herded around like cattle at roundup time.…On the ride to the front it was cold and raining with the artillery fire louder every mile, and finally we were dumped out in the middle of a heavily damaged town.”

5-115. In combat, Army leaders have countless things to worry about; the mental state of new arrivals might seem low on the list. But if those soldiers can’t fight, the unit will suffer needless casualties and may fail to complete the mission.

5-116. Discipline and shared hardship pull people together in powerful ways. SGT Alvin C. York, who won the Medal of Honor in an action you’ll read about later in this chapter, talked about cohesion this way:

War brings out the worst in you. It turns you into a mad, fighting animal, but it also brings out something else, something I just don’t know how to describe, a sort of tenderness and love for the fellow fighting with you.

5-117. However, the emotions SGT York mentions don’t emerge automatically in com-bat. One way to ensure cohesion is to build it during peacetime. Team building begins with receiving new members; you know how important first impressions are when you meet some-one new. The same thing is true of teams; the new member’s reception and orientation creates that crucial first impression that colors the person’s opinion of the team for a long time. A good experience joining the organization will make it easier for the new member to fit in and contribute. Even in peacetime, the way a per-son is received into an organization can have long-lasting effects—good or bad—on the individual and the team. (Appendix C discusses reception and integration counseling.)

Reception on Christmas Eve An assistant division commander of the 25th Infantry Division told this story as part of his farewell

speech: “I ran across some new soldiers and asked them about their arrival on the island [of Oahu]. They said

they got in on Christmas Eve, and I thought to myself, ‘Can’t we do a better job when we ship these kids out, so they’re not sitting in some airport on their first big holiday away from home?’ I mean, I really felt sorry for them. So I said, ‘Must have been pretty lonesome sitting in a new barracks where you didn’t know anyone.’ And one of them said, ‘No, sir. We weren’t there a half-hour before the CQ [charge of quarters] came up and told us to get into class B’s and be standing out front of the company in 15 minutes. Then this civilian drives up, a teenager, and the CQ orders us into the car. Turns out the kid was the first sergeant’s son; his father had sent him over to police up anybody who was hanging around the barracks. We went over to the first sergeant’s house to a big luau [party] with his family and a bunch of their neighbors and friends.’

“My guess is that those soldiers will not only do anything and everything that first sergeant wants, but they are going to tell anyone who will listen that they belong to the best outfit in the Army.”

SH-2-26

5-118. Enrichment stage. New teams and new team members gradually move from questioning everything to trusting themselves, their peers, and their leaders. Leaders earn that trust by listening, following up on what they hear, establishing clear lines of authority, and setting standards. By far the most important thing a leader does to strengthen the team is training. Training takes a group of individuals and molds them into a team while preparing them to accomplish their missions. Training occurs during all three team building stages, but is particularly important during enrichment; it’s at this point that the team is building collective proficiency.

5-119. Sustainment stage. When a team reaches this stage, its members think of the team as “their team.” They own it, have pride in it, and want the team to succeed. At this stage, team members will do what needs to be done without being told. Every new mission gives the leader a chance to make the bonds even stronger, to challenge the team to reach for new heights. The leader develops his subordinates because they’re tomorrow’s team leaders. He continues to train the team so that it maintains proficiency in the collective and individual tasks it must perform to accomplish its missions. Finally, the leader works to keep the team going in spite of the stresses and losses of combat.

Building the Ethical Climate 5-120. As an Army leader, you are the ethical standard bearer for your organization. You’re responsible for building an ethical climate that demands and rewards behavior consistent with Army values. The primary factor affecting an organization’s ethical climate is its leader’s ethical standard. Leaders can look to other

organizational or installation personnel—for example, the chaplain, staff judge advocate, inspector general, and equal employment opportunity manager—to assist them in building and assessing their organization’s ethical climate, but the ultimate responsibility belongs to the leader—period.

5-121. Setting a good ethical example doesn’t necessarily mean subordinates will follow it. Some of them may feel that circumstances justify unethical behavior. (See, for example, the situation portrayed in Appendix D.) Therefore, you must constantly seek to maintain a feel for your organization’s current ethical climate and take prompt action to correct any discrepancies between the climate and the standard. One tool to help you is the Ethical Climate Assessment Survey (ECAS), which is discussed in Appendix D. You can also use some of the resources listed above to help you get a feel for your organization’s ethical climate. After analyzing the in-formation gathered from the survey or other sources, a focus group may be a part of your plan of action to improve the ethical climate. Your abilities to listen and decide are the most important tools you have for this job.

5-122. It’s important for subordinates to have confidence in the organization’s ethical environment because much of what is necessary in war goes against the grain of the societal values individuals bring into the Army. You read in the part of Chapter 4 that discusses ethical reasoning that a soldier’s conscience may tell him it’s wrong to take human life while the mission of the unit calls for exactly that. Unless you’ve established a strong ethical climate that lets that soldier know his duty, the conflict of values may sap the soldier’s will to fight.

SH-2-27

SGT York A conscientious objector from the Tennessee hills, Alvin C. York was drafted after America’s entry

into World War I and assigned to the 328th Infantry Regiment of the 82d Division, the “All Americans.” PVT York, a devout Christian, told his commander, CPT E. C. B. Danforth, that he would bear arms against the enemy but didn’t believe in killing. Recognizing PVT York as a potential leader but unable to sway him from his convictions, CPT Danforth consulted his battalion commander, MAJ George E. Buxton, about how to handle the situation.

MAJ Buxton was also deeply religious and knew the Bible as well as PVT York did. He had CPT Danforth bring PVT York to him, and they talked at length about the Scriptures, about God’s teachings, about right and wrong, about just wars. Then MAJ Buxton sent PVT York home on leave to ponder and pray over the dilemma. The battalion commander promised to release him from the Army if PVT York decided he could not serve his country without sacrificing his integrity. After two weeks of reflection and deep soul-searching, PVT York returned, having reconciled his personal values with those of the Army. PVT York’s decision had great consequences for both himself and his unit.

Alvin York performed an exploit of almost unbelievable heroism in the morning hours of 8 October 1918 in France’s Argonne Forest. He was now a corporal (CPL), having won his stripes during combat in the Lorraine. That morning CPL York’s battalion was moving across a valley to seize a German-held rail point when a German infantry battalion, hidden on a wooded ridge overlooking the valley, opened up with machine gun fire. The American battalion dived for cover, and the attack stalled. CPL York’s platoon, already reduced to 16 men, was sent to flank the enemy machine guns.

As the platoon advanced through the woods to the rear of the German outfit, it surprised a group of about 25 German soldiers. The shocked enemy offered only token resistance, but then more hidden machine guns swept the clearing with fire. The Germans dropped safely to the ground, but nine Americans, including the platoon leader and the other two corporals, fell dead or wounded. CPL York was the only unwounded leader remaining.

CPL York found his platoon trapped and under fire within 25 yards of the enemy’s machine gun pits. Nonetheless, he didn’t panic. Instead, he began firing into the nearest enemy position, aware that the Germans would have to expose themselves to get an aimed shot at him. An expert marksman, CPL York was able to hit every enemy soldier who popped his head over the parapet.

After he had shot more than a dozen enemy, six German soldiers charged him with fixed bayonets. As the Germans ran toward him, CPL York once again drew on the instincts of a Tennessee hunter and shot the last man first (so the ones in front wouldn’t see the ones he shot fall), then the fifth, and so on. After he had shot all the assaulting Germans, CPL York again turned his attention to the machine gun pits. In between shots, he called for the Germans to give up. It may have initially seemed ludicrous for a lone soldier in the open to call on a well-entrenched enemy to surrender, but their situation looked desperate to the German battalion commander, who had seen over 20 of his soldiers killed by this one American. The commander advanced and offered to surrender if CPL York would stop shooting.

CPL York now faced a daunting task. His platoon, now numbering seven unwounded soldiers, was isolated behind enemy lines with several dozen prisoners. However, when one American said their predicament was hopeless, CPL York told him to be quiet and began organizing the prisoners for a movement. CPL York moved his unit and prisoners toward American lines, encountering other German positions and forcing their surrender. By the time the platoon reached the edge of the valley they had left just a few hours before, the hill was clear of German machine guns. The fire on the Americans in the valley was substantially reduced and their advance began again.

CPL York returned to American lines, having taken a total of 132 prisoners and putting 35 machine guns out of action. He left the prisoners and headed back to his own outfit. Intelligence officers questioned the prisoners and learned from their testimony the incredible story of how a fighting battalion was destroyed by one determined soldier armed only with a rifle and pistol. Alvin C. York was promoted to sergeant and awarded the Medal of Honor for this action. His character, physical courage, technical competence, and leadership enabled him to destroy the morale and effectiveness of an entire enemy infantry battalion.

SH-2-28

5-123. CPT Danforth and MAJ Buxton could have ordered SGT York to go to war, or they might have shipped him out to a job that would take him away from the fight. Instead, these leaders carefully addressed the soldier’s ethical concerns. MAJ Buxton, in particular, established the ethical climate by showing that he, too, had wrestled with the very questions that troubled SGT York. The climate these leaders created held that every person’s beliefs are important and should be considered. MAJ Buxton demonstrated that a soldier’s duties could be consistent with the ethical framework established by his religious beliefs. Leaders who create a healthy ethical environment inspire confidence in their subordinates; that confidence and the trust it engenders builds the unit’s will. They create an environment where soldiers can truly “be all they can be.”

LEARNING For most men, the matter of learning is one of personal preference. But for Army [leaders], the obligation to learn, to grow in their profession, is clearly a public duty.

General of the Army Omar N. Bradley

5-124. The Army is a learning organization, one that harnesses the experience of its people and organizations to improve the way it does business. Based on their experiences, learning organizations adopt new techniques and procedures that get the job done more efficiently or effectively. Likewise, they discard techniques and procedures that have outlived their purpose. However, you must remain flexible when trying to make sense of your experiences. The leader who works day after day after day and never stops to ask “How can I do this better?” is never going to learn and won’t improve the team.

5-125. Leaders who learn look at their experience and find better ways of doing things. Don’t be afraid to challenge how you and your subordinates operate. When you ask “Why do we do it that way?” and the only answer you get is “Because we’ve always done it that way,” it’s time for a closer look. Teams that have found a way that works still may not be doing things the best way. Unless leaders are willing to question how things are, no one will ever know what can be.

“Zero Defects” and Learning 5-126. There’s no room for the “zero-defects” mentality in a learning organization. Leaders willing to learn welcome new ways of looking at things, examine what’s going well, and are not afraid to look at what’s going poorly. When direct leaders stop receiving feedback from subordinates, it’s a good indication that something is wrong. If the message you hammer home is “There will be no mistakes,” or if you lose your temper and “shoot the messenger” every time there’s bad news, eventually your people will just stop telling you when things go wrong or suggesting how to make things go right. Then there will be some unpleasant surprises in store. Any time you have human beings in a complex organization doing difficult jobs, often under pressure, there are going to be problems. Effective leaders use those mistakes to figure out how to do things better and share what they have learned with other leaders in the organization, both peers and superiors.

5-127. That being said, all environments are not learning environments; a standard of “zero-defects” is acceptable, if not mandatory, in some circumstances. A parachute rigger is charged with a “zero-defect” standard. If a rigger makes a mistake, a parachutist will die. Helicopter repairers live in a “zero-defect” environment as well. They can’t allow aircraft to be mechanically unstable during flight. In these and similar work environments, safety concerns mandate a “zero-defects” mentality. Of course, organizations and people make mistakes; mistakes are part of training and may be the price of taking action. Leaders must make their intent clear and ensure their people understand the sorts of mistakes that are accept-able and those that are not.

5-128. Leaders can create a “zero-defects” environment without realizing it. Good leaders want their organizations to excel. But an organizational “standard” of excellence can quickly slide into “zero defects” if the leader isn’t careful. For example, the published mini-mum standard for passing the APFT is 180 points—60 points per event. However, in units that are routinely assigned missions requiring highly strenuous physical activities, leaders need to train their people to a higher-than-average level of physical fitness. If leaders use APFT scores as the primary means of gauging physical fitness, their soldiers will focus on the test rather than the need for physical fitness. A better

SH-2-29

course would be for leaders to train their people on mission-related skills that require the higher level of physical readiness while at the same

time motivating them to strive for their personal best on the APFT.

Barriers to Learning 5-129. Fear of mistakes isn’t the only thing that can get in the way of learning; so can rigid, lockstep thinking and plain mental laziness. These habits can become learning barriers leaders are so used to that they don’t even notice them. Fight this tendency. Challenge yourself. Use your imagination. Ask how other people do things. Listen to subordinates.

Helping People Learn 5-130. Certain conditions help people learn. First, you must motivate the person to learn. Explain to the subordinate why the subject is important or show how it will help the individual perform better. Second, involve the subordinate in the learning process; make it active. For instance, you would never try to teach someone how to drive a vehicle with classroom instruction alone; you have to get the person behind the wheel. That same approach applies to much more complex tasks; keep the lecture to a mini-mum and maximize the hands-on time.

5-131. Learning from experience isn’t enough; you can’t have every kind of experience. But if you take advantage of what others have learned, you get the benefit without having the experience. An obvious example is when com-bat veterans in a unit share their experiences with soldiers who haven’t been to war. A less obvious, but no less important, example is when leaders share their experience with subordinates during developmental counseling.

After-Action Reviews and Learning 5-132. Individuals benefit when the group learns together. The AAR is one tool good leaders use to help their organizations learn as a group.

Properly conducted, an AAR is a professional discussion of an event, focused on performance standards, that enables people to discover for themselves what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve on weaknesses. Like warning orders and rehearsals, the AAR is a technique that all leaders—military or DA civilian—can use in garrison as well as field environments. (FM 7-1 and TC 25-20 discuss how to prepare for, conduct, and follow up after an AAR.) When your team sits down for an AAR, make sure everyone participates and all understand what’s being said. With input from the whole team, your people will learn more than if they just think about the experience by themselves.

Organizational Climate and Learning 5-133. It takes courage to create a learning environment. When you try new things or try things in different ways, you’re bound to make mistakes. Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. Pick your team and yourself up, determine what went right and wrong, and continue the mission. Be confident in your abilities. Theodore Roosevelt, a colonel during the Spanish-American War and twenty-sixth President of the United States, put it this way:

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, Certainly I can!—and get busy and find out how to do it.

5-134. Your actions as a direct leader move the Army forward. How you influence your subordinates and the people you work for, how you operate to get the job done, how you improve the organization for a better future, all determine the Army’s success or failure.

SH-2-30

SUMMARY

5-135. Direct leaders influence their sub-ordinates face-to-face as they operate to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. Because their leadership is face-to-face, direct leaders see the outcomes of their actions almost immediately. This is partly because they receive immediate feedback on the results of their actions.

5-136. Direct leaders influence by determining their purpose and direction from the boss’s intent and concept of the operation. They motivate subordinates by completing tasks that reinforce this intent and concept. They continually acquire and assess outcomes and motivate their subordinates through face-to-face

contact and personal example.

5-137. Direct leaders operate by focusing their subordinates’ activities toward the organization’s objective and achieving it. Direct leaders plan, prepare, execute, and assess as they operate. These functions sometimes occur simultaneously.

5-138. Direct leaders improve by living Army values and providing the proper role model for subordinates. Leaders must develop all subordinates as they build strong, cohesive teams and establish an effective learning environment.

SH-2-31

Appendix D

A Leader Plan of Action and the ECAS

D-1. By completing a set of tasks (shown in Figure D-1), leaders can improve, sustain, or rein-force a standard of performance within their organizations. Leaders may complete some or all of the sub-tasks shown in Figure D-1, depending on the situation.

D-2. A leader plan of action (developed in step 3) identifies specific leader actions necessary to achieve improvement. It is similar to the individual plan of action that Appendix C discusses.

Figure D-1. The Leader Plan of Action Development Process

D-3. Begin your plan of action by assessing your unit (Step 1). Observe, interact, and gather feedback from others; or conduct formal assessments of the workplace. Then analyze the information you gathered to identify what needs improvement (Step 2). Once you have identified what needs improvement, begin to develop courses of action to make the improvements.

D-4. In Step 3, you develop your plan of action. First, develop and consider several possible courses of action to correct the weaknesses you identified. Gather important information, assess the limitations and risks associated with the various courses, identify available key personnel and resources, and verify facts and assumptions. Attempt to predict the outcome for each possible course of action. Based on your predictions, select several leader actions to deal with the problems.

D-5. Execute your plan of action (Step 4) by educating, training, or counseling your subordinates; instituting new policies or procedures; and revising or enforcing proper systems of re-wards and punishment. Your organization moves towards excellence by improving sub-standard or weak areas and maintaining conditions that meet or exceed the standard. Finally, periodically reassesses your unit to identify new matters of concern or to evaluate the effective-ness of the leader actions.

D-6. You can use this process for many areas of interest within your organization. A case study demonstrating how to use an ECAS to prepare a leader plan of action follows. It includes a description of how one leader gathered information to complete the survey. (You can obtain the form used to conduct an ECAS through Training Support Centers by ordering GTA 22-6-1.)

SH-2-32

PREPARATION OF AN ECAS

D-7. 2LT Christina Ortega has been a military police platoon leader for almost eight months. When she first came to the platoon, it was a well-trained, cohesive group. Within two months of her taking charge, she and her platoon deployed on a six-month rotation to support operations in Bosnia. The unit per-formed well, and she quickly earned a reputation as a leader with high standards for herself and her unit. Now redeployed, she must have her platoon ready in two months for a rotation at the Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC). She realizes that within that time she must get the unit’s equipment ready for deployment, train her soldiers on different missions they will encounter at the CMTC, and provide them some much needed and deserved time off.

D-8. As 2LT Ortega reflects on her first eight months of leadership, she remembers how she took charge of the platoon. She spoke individually with the leaders in the platoon about her expectations and gathered information about her subordinates. She stayed up all night completing the leadership philosophy memorandum that she gave to every member of her platoon. After getting her feet on the ground and getting to know her soldiers, she assessed the platoon’s ethical climate using the ECAS. Her unit’s overall ECAS score was very good. She committed herself to maintaining that positive ethical climate by continuing the established policies and by monitoring the climate periodically.

D-9. Having completed a major deployment and received a recent influx of some new soldiers, 2LT Ortega decides to complete an-other ECAS. She heads to the unit motor pool to observe her soldiers preparing for the next day’s training exercise. The platoon is deploying to the local training area for the “best squad” competition prior to the ARTEP evaluation at the CMTC. “The best squad competition has really become a big deal in the company,” she thinks. “Squad rivalry is fierce, and the squad leaders seem to be looking for an edge so they can come out on top and win the weekend pass that goes to the

winning squad.”

D-10. She talks to as many of her soldiers as she can, paying particular attention to the newest members of the unit. One new soldier, a vehicle driver for SSG Smith, the 2nd Squad Leader, appears very nervous and anxious. During her conversation with the soldier, 2LT Ortega discovers some disturbing information.

D-11. The new soldier, PFC O’Brien, worries about his vehicle’s maintenance and readiness for the next day. His squad leader has told him to “get the parts no matter what.” PFC O’Brien says that he admires SSG Smith because he realizes that SSG Smith just wants to perform well and keep up the high standards of his previous driver. He recounts that SSG Smith has vowed to win the next day’s land navigation competition. “SSG Smith even went so far as to say that he knows we’ll win because he already knows the location of the points for the course. He saw them on the XO’s desk last night and wrote them on his map.”

D-12. 2LT Ortega thanks the soldier for talking honestly with her and immediately sets him straight on the proper and improper way to get repair parts. By the time she leaves, PFC O’Brien knows that 2LT Ortega has high standards and will not tolerate improper means of meeting them. Meanwhile, 2LT Ortega heads back toward the company headquarters to find the XO.

D-13. She finds the XO busily scribbling numbers and dates on pieces of paper. He is obviously involved and frantic. He looks up at her and manages a quick “Hi, Christina,” before re-turning to his task. The battalion XO apparently did not like the way the unit status report (USR) portrayed the status of the maintenance in the battalion and refused to send that report forward. Not completely familiar with the USR, 2LT Ortega goes to the battalion motor officer to get some more information. After talking to a few more people in her platoon, 2LT Ortega completes the ECAS shown in Figure D-2.

SH-2-33

Figure D-2. Example of an Ethical Climate Assessment Survey

SH-2-34

PREPARATION OF A LEADER PLAN OF ACTION

D-14. 2LT Ortega looks at her ECAS score and determines that she needs to take action to improve the ethical climate in her platoon. To help determine where she should begin, 2LT Ortega looks at the scores for each question. She knows that any question receiving a “1” or “2” must be addressed immediately in her plan of action. As 2LT Ortega reviews the rest of the scores for her unit, she identifies additional problems to correct. Furthermore, she decides to look at a few actions in which her unit excels and to de-scribe ways to sustain the performance. As she continues to develop the

leader plan of action, she looks at each subject she has identified. She next develops the plan shown in Figure D-3 to correct the deficiencies. At the bottom of the form, she lists at least two actions she plans to take to maintain the positive aspects of her platoon’s ethical climate.

D-15. 2LT Ortega has already completed the first three steps (assess, analyze, and develop a plan f action) specified in FigureD-1.When she takes action to implement the plan she will have completed the process. She must then follow up to ensure her actions have the effects she intended.

SH-2-35

Actions to correct negative aspects of the ethical climate in the organization

Problem: Dysfunctional competition/stress in the unit (the competition is causing some members of the unit to seek ways to gain an unfair advantage over others) [ECAS question # II.C., IV.A. & IV.C.]

Action:

• Postpone the platoon competition; focus on the readiness of equipment and soldier preparation rather than competition.

• Build some time in the long-range calendar to allow soldiers time to get away from work and relax.

• Focus on the group’s accomplishment of the mission (unit excellence). Reward the platoon, not squads, for excellent performance. Reward teamwork.

Problem: Battalion XO “ordering” the changing of reports [IV B., D. & F.]

Action:

• Go see the company XO first and discuss what he should do.

• If the XO won’t deal with it, see the commander myself to raise the issue.

Problem: Squad leader’s unethical behavior [I.B. & II.A.]

Action:

• Reprimand the squad leader for getting the land navigation points unfairly.

• Counsel the squad leader on appropriate ways to give instructions and accomplish the mission without compromising values.

Problem: Unclear instructions given by the squad leader (“get the parts no matter what”) [II.A.]

Action:

• Have the platoon sergeant give a class (NCODP) on proper guidelines for giving instructions and appropriate ethical considerations when asking subordinates to complete a task.

• Have the platoon sergeant counsel the squad leader(s) on the importance of using proper supply procedures.

Problem: Company XO “changing report” to meet battalion XO’s needs [IV.B. & F.]

Action:

• Have an informal discussion with the company XO about correct reporting or see the company commander to raise the issue about the battalion XO.

Actions to maintain positive aspects of the ethical climate in the organization

Maintain: Continue to hold feedback (sensing) sessions and conduct ECAS assessments to maintain a feel for how the platoon is accomplishing its mission. [ I I .D. & G.; III.A. & B.]

Maintain: Continue to reward people who perform to high standards without compromising values.

Punish those caught compromising them. [III.E. & F.]

Figure D-3. Example of a Leader Plan of Action

u.s. army sergeants major academy...

Documents